Chitwan, July 6

Experts have said that no measures can be adopted to stop frequent landslides on the Narayangadh-Mugling road section until the end of monsoon.

With the onset of monsoon, landslides on the upgraded road section have become the order of the day.

Places such as Tope Khola, Char Kilo and Chor Khola within a 300-metre stretch of the upgraded road have been identified as landslide prone areas.

Landslides have become frequent even in areas which were considered safe by the pre-project study. Thus, experts have suggested that ongoing work be halted till monsoon ends.

According to the project’s consultant engineer Pushpakar Regmi, vehicular movement was halted along the section for more than 42 hours between June 26 and July 4. “Landslides mainly occurred at Tope Khola, Char Kilo and Chor Khola,” said Regmi, adding some 20,000 cubic metres landslide debris was removed over the period.

Land technology consultant Tuklal Adhikari clarified that the recent spate of landslides couldn’t be controlled until the monsoon was over.

“Wherever landslides are occurring now, the soil is loose and is composed of small rocks, so nothing can be done to stop the occurrence of landslides till the end of monsoon season.

The only thing we can do is take some precautions and prepare a mechanism to clear debris as soon as possible after landslides,” he observed.

“If the government starts work on time, I think we will be able to achieve it by April/May of next year by using the soil nail technology,” he said, while the project chief engineer Rohit Kumar Bisural too admitted landslides could not be stopped by any means on the road stretch before the end of monsoon season.

“There are different solutions mooted by experts, but it’s almost a surety that nothing can be done to stop landslides now,” he said, adding, “Work on controlling landslides will start afresh by consulting experts once the monsoon gets over.”