Road that proved boon in disaster cries for repair

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, May 9

The condition of the Kullu-Naggar-Manali left bank road has turned from bad to worse due to the lack of adequate maintenance. With the road damaged at many places, the fear of accidents always lurks. Besides it being dotted with potholes, water stagnates on it at many places due to improper drainage.

Nand Lal, a businessman at Aleo village near Manali, said, “The stretch from Manali to Aleo is dotted with potholes and commuters have a tough time traversing this road. There are many hotels and restaurants along the road and its bad condition is resulting in decline in business.”

The roads leads to Naggar, a famous tourist spot, besides linking Hamta and Jana waterfalls. There are many hospitality units along the road. The tourism beneficiaries are concerned about the pitiable condition of the road.

Inderjeet, a resident of Jagatsukh, said, “The condition of the road is bad for the past two years, but the authorities have not paid heed, despite several reminders. Tourists leave with a bad impression after travelling on the damaged road and getting stuck in traffic jams due to bottlenecks.”

Jagdish, a resident of Seobagh village, said, “Water from drains flows onto the road in Seobagh, virtually turning it into a pond and causing inconvenience to the commuters.”

Approach roads to bridges built at Jagatsukh and Chhaki villages are still unpaved. The condition of the road to the Raison bridge connecting the right bank highway with the left bank road was also bad. The bridge acted as a major support in early restoration of traffic between Kullu and Manali during the natural disaster last year. The condition of the road at Khakhnal and Arachhandi villages is also not good.

Manali Public Works Department (PWD) Assistant Engineer Akash Sood said patchwork will be done on the left bank road soon and tarring will also be carried out on broken stretches. “The budget for tarring of about 3-km road has already been approved and the work of improving the condition of the road will be started as soon as the weather becomes suitable.”

This Kullu-Naggar-Manali route played an important role in keeping Manali connected to Kullu during the floods last year. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took over the task of double-laning 38-km Kullu-Naggar-Manali left bank road from the state Public Works Department (PWD) in January last year, but so far even the alignment has not been finalised. Many flyovers, big bridges and a tunnel from Aleo to Manali are proposed to be built under the Rs 500-crore project.

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