On Monday, the Road Division Office, Kathmandu, blacktopped a section of road in New Road that had been narrowed by Kathmandu Metropolis to expand the pavement.

Employees of the Road Division Office were engaged in blacktopping the road from Juddha Salik to Indrachowk in New Road since early morning.

Engineer Pramod Khatiwada, information officer of the road division office, told the Post that the office decided to blacktop the road as it became difficult to manage the traffic in the area.

“We had given the metropolis a two-day deadline to repair the road. However, they didn’t respond. We decided to blacktop it as it would not be appropriate to leave the road in shambles ahead of the monsoon,” said Khatiwada.

On May 30, the road division office wrote to the metropolis, urging it to restore the road to its original shape within two days.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City dumped a truckload of dirt and trash outside the Road Division Kathmandu office on May 25, claiming that the delayed road expansion work from Kalanki to Maharajgunj had caused problems for the public. However, it was later revealed that the mayor was angry with the office for not allowing the city to narrow the road in New Road.

Here are some photos captured by the Post’s photojournalist Sukarya Lal Shrestha.