Vehicular traffic resumes on Simkot-Hilsa road

KATHMANDU: The Simkot-Hilsa road in Humla is now ready for vehicular traffic after workers cleared snow on the Nara pass area in Namkha Rural Municipality-5. The road had been blocked for five months due to heavy snowfall in December.

It took the workers nine days to clear snow and debris on the road, Niraj Rajbanshi, an engineer working on the Hilsa-Simkot Road Project, told RSS news agency.

Although motor vehicles were plying the Simkot-Yari section, it wasn’t possible to clear Nara Pass (4560m) due to the accumulation of snow at the pass.  According to Rajbanshi, workers removed snow from 10 kilometers section of the road and cleared landslide debris on 18 kilometers section.

“The opening of the road has brought great relief for us,” Bir Bahadur Singh, a resident of Simkot Rural Municipality-7, told RSS.

Since the Hilsa-Simkot road section falls under the Karnali Corridor, the project office took the initiative to remove snow using its machinery.

The movement of people on the road section is increasing as China has reopened the Hilsa border point.  Nepal and China agreed to reopen the border crossing on March 1.

China had closed the border crossing citing COVID pandemic.