Vehicular movement along the Narayangarh-Muglin road stretch was halted for one and a half hours on Sunday morning. The traffic obstruction was caused by landslips at various places brought about by incessant rain the night before.

Seven places along the stretch, including Jalbire, are currently considered highly vulnerable to landslides.

Last year, road authorities had started a project to control and prevent natural disasters along the road stretch, applying safety measures in 11 spots, but no significant progress was seen. This year, such control measures are yet to be introduced.

Arjun Jung Thapa, deputy director at the Department of Roads, said, “The department had issued a notice seeking tenders for disaster control projects in April this year. So far it has received five applications, but the department has failed to reach an agreement with any of them.”

This year, the department was supposed to work on seven landslide-prone spots—two that were left unattended last year and five new ones.

According to Information Officer and Engineer at the Narayangarh-Muglin Road project Shiva Khanal, around 24, 000 square metre area needs to be fixed this year. Gaighat, Ghumaune, Bhaludhunga, Jalabire, Char Kilo, Topekhola and Kalikhola are among the highly vulnerable areas.

The Narayangarh-Muglin road stretch is one of the busiest roads in Nepal—it connects the Capital with both the eastern and western parts of the country and over 10, 000 vehicles travel through it every day.

According to the data provided by the project, in the last four years, traffic along the road was halted for 596 hours—at one instance, the road was obstructed for 43 hours straight. Landslides claimed at least eight lives, injured 18 people and damaged 58 vehicles in that same period.