Manali four-laning work leaves hoteliers worried

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Manali, April 17

Poor condition of the Chandigarh-Manali road, where the four-laning work is in progress, is a big blow to the tourism industry. The NHAI is carrying out construction on this route.

At several places between Pandoh and Manali, the widening of the road is going on, which may cause long traffic jams as the rush of tourists will increase in the coming days. Hoteliers are worried about their business because of the impact of four-laning.

Talking to The Tribune here, Anup Thakur, former president of the Hotelier Association of Kullu-Manali, said it was evident that four-laning work would affect the traffic movement on this route but a few measures by the authorities might ease the situation. “We are urging the government to direct the NHAI to complete the work on the left bank first or thereafter on the right bank between Kullu and Manali, which may prove helpful for the smooth traffic movement,” he added.

Due to four-laning near Manali, telecommunications services in Vashishth panchayat and its nearby places were hit last month. Hoteliers were the worst sufferer due to disruption of Internet services.

Gajender Thakur, president of the Hotelier Association of Kullu-Manali, said “We urge the government to direct the NHAI to execute the construction in the night hours in the next two months to avoid traffic jams.”

He said, “The impact of the bad road condition is visible this time as tourist arrival is low over the previous year in April this year.

However, the district administration has also geared up to handle the situation. Superintendent of Police Shalini Agnihotri said the extra police force would be deployed at key points to manage the traffic and it would be diverted at a few places.