Monsoon landslides and floods have destroyed an important bridge over the Marsyangdi River near Mugling, cutting off a major north-south and east-west highway artery. A makeshift bridge will take another week to put into place, according to officials in the Roads Department. The Department of Roads has no stock of Bailey bridges. "What we had has been depleted," admits MG Maleku, director general of the department. "We should've stockpiled for emergencies." With monsoon emergencies a given, these prefabricated steel panel bridges should have been ready to move, but officials blame everyone but themselves. "There was a fund crunch as usual," another senior official told us. "We did notify the ministry on time, but they told us the money was unavailable." Maleku says the government has learnt its lesson and will now stockpile Bailey bridges in five regions across the kingdom. Check back next year in this same space.