Cart Road to remain closed for a month following breach

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 28

Shimla residents facing great inconvenience due to a breach in the Cart Road near The Lift for past four months are in for more trouble.

Reason: The road will be closed for a month to expedite the construction of a 30-m stretch, which caved in due to seepage and digging underneath for developing a parking of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC).

The alternate traffic plan announced by the district administration, which will be enforced from March 30, will further add to the woes of commuters, especially students and office-goers, who will have to travel an extra distance of 5 to 10 km.

The trial started today so that the traffic plan can be altered keeping in mind the practical difficulties.

Since the Civil Secretariat and main offices are located towards the East and a number of schools are spread on both sides of the breached road, students and employees will have to take up the circuitous route either for going to office or school or for returning home.

Under the new traffic plan, a bus stop will be set up near Talland and Mehli, Kusumpti, New Shimla, Vikas Nagar, Basant Bihar, Chhota Shimla and ISBT-bound buses will be available from here and two buses of the HRTC will also ply from here for Sanjauli. Two shuttle buses up to Holiday Home will be available from this bus stop.

The buses for Sanjauli will be available from the bus stop near Gurdwara, 500 m from The Lift, via the Victory Tunnel and Lakkar Bazar.

The district administration claimed that the timings of only eight out of 49 school buses of the HRTC has been altered, but students of Tara Hall school residing in New Shimla, SDA, Vikas Nagar and other adjoining areas will have to cover an extra distance of 6 to 8 km as the buses will be routed via Khalini, Talland and Sanjauli.

Similarly, people from Khalini, Talland and Bemloe will have to take the ISBT and Tutikandi route for going to the old bus stand and Vidhan Sabha covering an extra distance of 10 km.

Chhota Shimla-bound light vehicles will be permitted to ply on sealed road from The Lift via the High Court, Marina Hotel and Oakover, but this facility will not be able to people travelling in buses.

The closure of the road will also cause great inconvenience to patients and also add to traffic jams as reversing buses on the narrow road near Talland and Holiday Home would be a Herculean task.

Besides causing inconvenience, the traffic plan would also result in wastage of precious time of commuters. DSP, Traffic, Dinesh said: “Meanwhile, all roads will be opened for vehicles in case of an emergency, while people going for discharging their duty during the Vidhan Sabha session will be allowed to ply their vehicles on closed roads.

New traffic plan

• A bus stop will be set up near Talland  and Mehli, Kusumpti, New Shimla, Vikas Nagar, Basant Bihar, Chhota Shimla and ISBT-bound buses will be available from here and two buses of the HRTC will also ply from here for Sanjauli, while two shuttle buses up to Holiday Home will also be available from this bus stop
• The buses for Sanjauli will be available from the bus stop near Gurdwara, 500 m from The Lift, via the Victory Tunnel and Lakkar Bazar
• People from Khalini, Talland and Bemloe will have to take the ISBT and Tutikandi route for going to the old bus stand and Vidhan Sabha covering extra 10 km distance
• Chhota Shimla-bound light vehicles will be permitted to ply on sealed road from The Lift via the High Court, Marina Hotel and Oakover, but this facility will not be able to the common man travelling in buses