RAJBIRAJ, JULY 27

It was two years ago when around 100-metre stretch of the road joining Hanumannagar and Tilathi in Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality- was swept away by flood.

The road is yet to be repaired, compelling locals to risk negotiating that stretch.

Around 100 metres of the road on both sides of two small bridges on the road was swept away in the monsoon season two years ago.

'People have made a tentative road by putting sacks filled with sand, gravel and soil, and it's along the narrow makeshift route that we run our vehicles, but it's risky as the vehicle can slide and fall into the water,' said tempo driver Pankaj Jha of Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality.

According to Mount Sagarmath Yatayat Pvt Ltd Rajbiraj Secretary Dilip Kumar Sah, large vehicles have stopped plying the road for the past two years. 'As the road hasn't been repaired for long, we are bound to use a longer route to reach Rajbiraj,' he said. Meanwhile, the condition of the road has also affected revenue collection at Rajbiraj customs, which is near and can be accessed through the damaged road. A local eatery operator Ashol Sah lamented the apathy of the government towards repairing the road. 'Earlier, up to 2,000 people used to travel or walk along the road, but ever since it was damaged, only 100 to 200 people use this road,' he said.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.