CHITWAN: A team of geologists has observed caved-in road at Gaighat along Muglin-Narayangadh road section on Wednesday. At least eight metres wide and 30 metres long stretch of the road has caved-in by the edge of the highway.

Geologist Achyut Koirala, who led the team said, "There is no alternative to cutting the roadside wall for the construction of alternate lane to ease vehicular movement."

Koirala further said he would hold a discussion with the experts who had carried out rock-soil anchoring in the same spot of the highway.

Meanwhile, experts are holding a discussion on whether to cut roadside wall or to repair the stretch by a retaining wall to resume traffic on the damaged lane. However, Koirala said that final decision would be taken after consulting other experts in Kathmandu.

Koirala further said, "Eight-metre portion of the 11-metre road has caved-in. It seems at least eight metres of wall cutting is required."

He further said the road will be regularly monitored till Thursday morning and discussion on whether to cut wall or repair the damaged road section will be held depending on the condition of the road.

According to Information Officer of Narayangadh-Muglin Road Project Engineer Shiva Khanal, the road section at Gaighat, 17 kilometres from Narayangadh, which started to cave-in since Tuesday has further deepened one metre to date.

Meanwhile, technicians have suspected that unfinished rock soil anchoring works carried out in 2003 might have caused the damage, adding that the road might have caved-in due to water sources along the wall, landslip caused by Trishuli and water encroaching underneath the road surface among others.

The road was recently widened and black-topped.

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