Nawalparasi East, Aug. 6 -- Vehicles are taking up to seven hours to cross the Daunne hill section of the East-West Highway after heavy traffic built up near the Bishwakarma Temple, leaving thousands of travellers stranded for hours.

The bottleneck, around three kilometres west of Dumkibas, was caused by vehicles failing to ascend a steep slope where the road had caved in during recent rainfall. Only one vehicle can pass, at a time, on the narrow, concrete-paved stretch, creating long lines of trucks, buses and cars.

"I reached Daunne around 3:45am, and I still haven't passed Bishwakarma Temple," said Ram Parajuli, travelling from Kawasoti to Butwal. "Since Monday, the situation has remained the same. It takes a minimum of seven hours j...