KATHMANDU, JUNE 9

After receiving suggestions and feedback from various quarters to stop rebuilding and pitching the roads during the rainy season, the government has banned the digging of roads for at least three months from June 15 to September 16.

The Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office, Kathmandu, under Department of Roads (DoR), has stated that roads cannot be dug under any pretext during this period.

Keshav Kumar Sharma, director general of DoR, said the department has banned digging of roads to carry out any sort of work by any other authority.

Roads are usually dug for the purpose of laying drinking water pipes, sewerage pipes, electricity wires and telephone cables, among others. "Excavation of roads during rainy season has been stopped as they cannot be restored immediately which causes a lot of problem.”

He stated that no road excavation will be allowed for the period mentioned above as the condition of roads deteriorate more when they are dug during the rainy season.

The office has stated that strict action will be taken against anybody found digging any road as per the Public Roads Act.

“Our main purpose in issuing this circular is to maintain road safety and save lives due to bad condition of the roads. The concerned stakeholders usually do not follow the road safety measures while digging roads to complete their works like laying drinking water pipes, electricity wires/poles, sewage pipes, phone cables, among others," said Sharma.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 10, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.