Karnali Highway Landslide Disrupts Travel, Causes Economic Loss

Kalikot. Even though the track has been connected from Surkhet to Jumla for more than two decades, the journey on the Karnali Highway is not easy. Karnali residents have been facing the compulsion of undertaking risky journeys on narrow, steep roads for years. On top of that, the landslides that continuously occur on the highway have created an even more dangerous situation.

The Gagane Khola area of the highway is known as a landslide-prone area. This cliff, located in Shubhakalika Rural Municipality-1 of Kalikot, experiences landslides with mud even in normal rainfall. Sometimes gabion nets were installed, and sometimes water drainage systems were built. But no solution worked. To solve the landslide problem, the Jumla Road Division had installed gabion nets investing three crore rupees two years ago. The net was also washed away as it could not withstand the landslide.