October 9, 2024, Wednesday
Nepal 1:37:26 pm

Why the roads of Kathmandu valley have cave-ins?

The Nepal Weekly
September 17, 2024

These days the major roads of Kathmandu valley have cave-ins. The roads of the Kathmandu Valley, being a densely populated area with lots of traffic, are often cave-in.

However, the government agencies are acting as if they don’t see why this is happening even when the road is flooded in the same area again and again. The road department does not seem to have done any further studies except to fill the washed-out road with soil.

On Saturday (September 14), the main road at Kupandol in Lalitpur was washed away. The road was flooded after a water pipe burst on Saturday afternoon.

On August 18, a cave-in occurred in the middle of the road leading from Baneshwar to Shankhamul. After about 10 feet deep crack, the road was operated in one way. On the same day in the evening of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, cleared the street.

Last 9 August, the main road in front of the Kathmandu Metropolitan Office at Putlisadak had cave-in. On August 8, the road at Imadol in Lalitpur developed cave-in. Mahalakshmi Municipality-3 caused a problem with the movement of vehicles for a few days when the road near Baklogaon developed cave-in. On July 15, the road had cave-in away at Thamel- Sohrakhutte area. Here, when the road developed cave-in, a motorcycle itself fell into the ditch

However, according to the Department of Mines and Geology, this kind of cave – in is not a normal incident. According to the Department of Mines, this has raised questions related to the geographical structure, urbanization and infrastructure. The department warns that this carelessness may cause a major accident in the coming days. The geology of the valley is similar. However, there has been no study on the recently built tall buildings and the problems they have caused to the environment. The study conducted by the Department of Mines and Geology, the roads at New Baneshwar, Thimi, Kalimati, Lalitpur Sanepa area, Balaju area have weakest ground surface.