KATHMANDU:  Heavy pre-monsoon showers in the past few days have again seriously disrupted traffic along the Mugling-Narayangadh highway and affected the main artery linking the valley to the tarai.

A 26 km section of the highway was damaged by a heavy cloudburst last July. Because of delays in repairs during the dry season, travellers fear that the early arrival of the monsoon will soon make the road impassable.

At least ten major landslides have blocked the road, and in places the highway has been completely washed off, and it has sunk along a seven km stretch. It can now take anywhere up to 12 hours to travel the 36 km highway, a journey that used to take an hour.