A part of road at Babarmahal, Kathmandu, collapsed on Wednesday after a rupture in a Melamchi Water Supply pipeline flooded the area. The disruption caused traffic disruption, with serious disturbances to vehicular movements in the affected area.

The overflow of the water, which resulted from the burst pipeline, submerged the road in front of the Kathmandu District Court, the Special Court and various other government offices.

Tika Chaudhary, head of the Melamchi Water Supply Project implementation unit, stated that the rupture occurred during the underground cable-laying work by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). “The NEA’s drilling work damaged our pipeline, leading to the burst. We are shutting off the water supply in that area now,” Chaudhary said.

Arjun Nepal, site engineer at the Kathmandu Road Division, also confirmed the pipeline burst occurred while a NEA team was laying cables. “The pipeline burst while they were drilling for the cables, and the road collapsed as a result. The NEA will be responsible for the repairs,” Nepal added.

This incident adds to the ongoing challenges faced by the Melamchi project, which typically supplies 170 million litres of water daily to the Kathmandu Valley.

Here are some photos captured by the Post's photojournalists Angad Dhakal and Bibek Pokhrel: