Vehicular movement at the Tansen-Butwal section of Siddhartha Highway has been obstructed once again following a massive landslide in Siddhababa area in Palpa on Thursday.

Palpa District Traffic Police chief Prabin Acharya said the landslide had not stopped until late afternoon and hundreds of vehicles had been stuck. Passengers travelling to Kaski, Syangja, Gulmi, Argakhanchi and Baglung from Butwal have been stranded mid-journey. 

The landslide has damaged the black-topped surface of nearly 6km section of the landslide affected road between Dovan and Siddhababa, officials of the Division Road Office (DRO) said. On Wednesday, falling landslide debris at the same area had hit a moving motorcycle and a car, injuring three people.  A week earlier, a landslide had buried a car and a truck. Bishnu Prasad Pandey, a local man, said the area had been witnessing frequent landslides in the recent months. 

People travelling through the area during this Dashain holidays were greatly inconvenienced, he added. 

The DRO staff has been using excavators and loaders to remove the landslide debris from the road on a daily basis.

Pabitramani Acharya, information officer at the DRO, said they were planning to construct an alternative route bypassing the landslide-prone area. People from Palpa, Gulmi, Syangja, Parbat, Baglung, Kaski and Mustang, among other districts, use this highway regularly.