BP Highway closed for nighttime traffic

Sindhulimadhi, July 18

Citing safety reasons, authorities in Sindhuli have imposed a complete ban on vehicles plying along the BP Highway at night from this fiscal.

Acting on the directives of the Department of Transport Management under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport to stop traffic movement on the road from 6:00pm onwards, an all party meeting held in the district a few days ago took a decision to this effect.

“Earlier too, we had banned traffic movement on the road at night, but as there were a lot of complaints about vehicles defying the ban, we had to renew the ban, keeping in view the Department’s diktat,” said Chief District Officer Tara Bahadur Karki of Sindhuli, adding, as per the rule, outbound vehicles from Kathmandu will have to make a stopover at Kavre Bhanjyang of Kavre and the Valley-bound vehicles will have to stop at Bhiman in Sindhuli from 6:00pm onwards.

According to District Traffic Police Sub-inspector Chandraphaju Shrestha, the stopped vehicles will be allowed to leave at 5:00am.

Similarly, the meeting also decided to ban cargo vehicles with more than 10 wheels from plying on the road, keeping in view the capacity of the road. There is, however, a provision that such vehicles meant for infrastructure building, development and research will be allowed provided that permission for the same is acquired from the Chief District Officer. Alternatively, cargo vehicles carrying more than 10 tonnes of weight will also be banned on the highway. To ensure compliance, weighing machines will be installed at places.