Kathmandu, Sept 2: Traffic has surged on the Hetauda Kathmandu road section after the road at Krishnabhir in Dhading along the Prithvi Highway was blocked by flooding in the Trishuli River. With growing impatience among passengers and increased pressure from essential services, the Makwanpur police have stepped up traffic management efforts.
Superintendent of Police Shyam Bahadur Khatri of the District Police Office, Makwanpur, and Police Inspector Ramesh Bista of the District Traffic Police Office, Makwanpur, have personally been deployed on the road to ease traffic movement.
Considering the long lines of vehicles and the narrow alternative routes, the administration has designated separate routes for light and heavy vehicles.
For vehicles with fewer than 14 seats traveling from Hetauda to Kathmandu, the designated route is Bhimphedi, Kulekhani, Sisneri and Dakshinkali. Vehicles returning from Kathmandu are required to use the Pharping, Phakhel, Kulekhani and Bhimphedi route. These light vehicles will be allowed to operate around the clock from October 2 ( Ashoj 16).
Large passenger and freight vehicles have been instructed to use the Tribhuvan Highway while traveling toward Kathmandu and the Kantirajpath while returning. The administration has urged operators not to run fuel tankers and heavy freight vehicles on the Tribhuvan Highway because of a weak bailey bridge along the route.
Around 150 vehicles that left Kathmandu on Tuesday had already reached Palung and stopped there before the government issued its decision on the alternative routes. Police are now escorting those vehicles to Kathmandu under security supervision. Another group of vehicles from Kathmandu will be allowed to enter the route only after the vehicles stranded in Palung have been sent toward their destinations.
According to Police Inspector Bista, traffic police have been deployed at various points to hold vehicles temporarily and send them toward their destinations in groups, a system known as convoy movement.
“We are managing traffic by deploying personnel along the route,” Bista said. “Around 150 vehicles that had already left Kathmandu before yesterday’s decision were stopped in Palung. We are now escorting those vehicles. Only after those vehicles are brought through will we release another batch from this side.”
According to Bista, small vehicles with up to 14 seats are operating smoothly around the clock through Bhimphedi, Kulekhani and Sisneri. Large freight vehicles are being directed toward the Prithvi Highway via Palung. Vehicles arriving from Bhimphedi are being held temporarily, grouped together and escorted for smoother movement, which has caused some delays at intervals along the route.
A journey from Hetauda to Kathmandu, which normally takes around three hours, now takes up to five hours. Police have also arranged special priority for ambulances and vehicles carrying essential supplies such as cooking gas and petroleum products, ensuring they reach Kathmandu as quickly as possible.
With the roads becoming increasingly difficult to manage following the disaster, police officers have moved beyond issuing instructions and have taken to the roads themselves to oversee traffic management.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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