- Sunday, 17 November 2024
Chitwan: A study committed formed by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport after the sweeping away of the two buses by the landslide at Simaltal along the Narayangadh-Muglin road section has carried out an on-site study.
The Ministry had formed the study committee under the leadership of Chief of Federal Roads Supervision and Monitoring Office Kathmandu, Gyanendra Kumar Jha.
Secretary at the Ministry Gopal Prasad Sigdel had formed a study committee under the coordination of Jha on July 10 with Chief of Traffic Safety Section of the Department of Roads, senior divisional engineer Prakash Chandra Bhandari and Chief of Division Road Office, Bharatpur Ramesh Prasad Poudel as members.
The committee has been mandated to submit its report within seven days. They have been asked to submit a report after studying the condition of the road, status of road safety, geological situation and possible reasons for the landslide.
Jha said the on-site study has been completed and preparations have been made to submit the report within the stipulated time. A technical study of the road section has also been carried out. Committee member Poudel said that during the field study a micro-study has been carried out by reaching the upper area of the landslide. The landslide occurred from 900 meters above the road.
According to the study, the landslide occurred when rain water accumulated on the 700-meter-long trail road stretching from Dumre to Sindhuligadhi in the upper cliff gradually eroded the land below.
Poudel said a study has been conducted on the overall situation in and around landslide site. In a study conducted earlier this year, the Division Road Office had declared 25 places along the road as vulnerable. However, Simaltal was not included in the list of risk zone.
With the recent incident of landslide, 27 places including Simaltal and Kalikhola have been declared risky. Among them, Namsi, Tuinkhola and Kalikhola are at high risk.
The Division Road Office had written a letter to the Department of Roads estimating that Rs 520 million would be spent for the prevention of landslides in the 170-meter-long section of these three places.
The Angel Deluxe bus (Bagmati Province 03-006 Kha 1516) en route to Kathmandu from Birgunj and the Ganpati Deluxe bus (Bagmati Province 032495 Kha 001) en route to Gaur from Kathmandu had gone missing in the Trishuli River following a landslide at Simalal.
Out of 65 people on board the buses, three had narrowly escaped the tragic accident while 62 went missing in the river. The bodies of 20 of them have been so far recovered. After the incident, a task force formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to study the incident has already conducted an on-site study. —
