Kalikot: Manma, the Karnali Highway and its risks

The Karnali Highway connects Kalikot with Surkhet, Jumla and Mugu⁴. This page covers the district and its dated road reports; the neighbouring districts are in the districts hub, and the whole road has its own Karnali Highway page.

Where it is

Kalikot, a part of Karnali Province, is one of the 77 districts of Nepal¹. Its headquarters are at Manma, today part of Khandachakra Municipality, and the district covers 1,741 km2¹. The district had 105,580 people in 2001 and 136,948 in 2011, and 145,292 at the 2021 census¹. The district’s literacy rate is 72.72% and its sex ratio 1,011 females per 1,000 males¹. The District Coordination Committee has its office at Manma, Kalikot, Karnali Province⁵.

Hinduism is practised by 99.79% of the population¹. In 2021, 73.24% of people spoke Nepali as their first language and 26.17% Khash, the dialect of Nepali spoken in Karnali Province¹.

The district has 9 municipalities, 3 urban and 6 rural¹. The urban ones are Khandachakra, Raskot and Tilagufa; the rural ones are Pachaljharana, Sanni Triveni, Narharinath, Shubha Kalika, Mahawai and Palata¹.

Raskot and the highway

Raskot is an urban municipality in Kalikot District of Karnali Province⁶. It covers 59.73 square kilometres, had 16,272 people at the 2011 census and is divided into 9 wards⁶. It was established on 10 March 2017, when the government announced 744 local-level units, by joining the former Sipkhana, Siuna and Phukot village development committees; its headquarters are at Siuna⁶.

Manma, the district headquarters, is among the major intersections of the Karnali Highway⁷.

Getting there

The Karnali Highway directly connects Surkhet, Dailekh, Kalikot, Jumla and Mugu⁴. The Department of Roads places Kalikot and Jumla straight along the Karnali Corridor⁸. It is the way into Kalikot from Surkhet, and the way on to Jumla and Mugu. Start points and the Dailekh section are covered under Surkhet and Dailekh.

The road was blacktopped using Otta Seal technology in fiscal year 2019-20⁴. By July 2026 around 80 percent of that blacktopping had peeled away⁴. Under engineering standards the 232 km journey from Jumla should take about six hours; in July 2026 travellers were often forced to spend up to 24 hours on the road⁴.

History of the highway

The Karnali Highway (NH58), also called the Karnali Corridor, stretches 505 km from Jamunaha in Banke District to Hilsa in Humla District⁷. The foundation for the highway was laid in 1992 and the passage was opened only in 2007⁷. Of the 232 km length of the highway linking Jumla with Birendranagar, 17 km were blacktopped in 2010⁷. Heavy monsoon rains in 2010 closed the highway because of landslides, and it reopened on 3 October, three months later⁷. On 6 July 2025 a Bailey bridge over the Chuwakhola river was inaugurated, connecting Simikot, Humla’s headquarters, to the national road network⁷. The northern end is covered in the Humla page.

Dated road reports

In the 17 August 2025 report, motorcycles and small vehicles could not cross the flood between Raskot and Pachhal Jharana, and vehicles heading to Surkhet via Kalikot were stranded at several locations². After the collapse reported on 27 August 2025, equipment and manpower were deployed for repairs³. Authorities urged travellers, including tourists heading toward Jumla and the Karnali region, to use alternative routes until the repair work was completed³.

In July 2026 landslides threatened the whole highway and most of the maintenance budget went on dealing with them, with nearly Rs670 million spent on maintenance over the past three fiscal years⁴. For the monsoon context see monsoon road closures.

Safety

In July 2026 the Karnali Highway accounted for nearly 56 percent of all road accidents recorded across Karnali Province, and 917 people had died in accidents on it since the 2014-15 fiscal year⁴.

In July 2026 police identified the stretch between Dahikhola in Dailekh and Galjebazaar in Kalikot as the most dangerous section: over the past three years, 98 accidents occurred along it, killing 35 people⁴. The highest-risk locations included Dahikhola and Kitubhir in Dailekh, and Serabada, Timure, Tadibhir, Bihani and Hulmajite in Kalikot⁴. In early July 2026 a passenger minibus travelling from Surkhet to Raskot plunged into the Karnali river from the highway at Sangetada in Dailekh⁴. A bus crash at Bittamod in Serabada, Kalikot, on 7 December 2011 claimed 28 lives⁴.

In July 2026 police had banned vehicles from operating on the highway at night⁴. Wider guidance is in landslides and road safety.