Phidim, July 21

Vehicular movement has been affected after a majority of rural roads were damaged due to heavy rainfall in Panchthar.

Road network has reached 60 wards of one municipality and seven rural municipalities in the district. However, vehicular movement has come to a complete halt in many rural areas with roads damaged by heavy rainfall.

The district has 2,200 kilometre road network connecting the villages with the district headquarters. Unfortunately, vehicles are operating smoothly only along 93 km section of Mechi Highway.

According to District Coordination Committee Panchthar, Rs 20 million was spent for road construction and maintenance in the district. Rural roads have been constructed with DCC’s internal source, Parliament Development Fund, and Constituency Development Fund.

The rainfall has also caused landslips at more than two dozen places along Phidim-Yangnam-Falaut road.

Panchthar LDO Giriraj Gyawali blamed policy level weakness for the dismal state of rural roads.