Sinking of Manali-Leh road a cause for concern

Dipender Manta

The sinking of Manali-Leh highway at different locations has become a cause for concern for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). 

Between June and September, a large number of tourists and common civilians travelled through this road to visit Leh and Ladakh. Similarly, Army vehicles also move via Manali to Leh-Ladakh to transport food material and other items to border areas for soldiers because it is considered the shortest route to reach Leh-Ladakh from Delhi rather than moving via Jammu and Kashmir.

Due to its strategic importance, the BRO always remains under pressure to keep the road through round the clock during summer season till the month of September depending on the weather condition.

The major problem of the road giving way is being observed between Marhi and Rohtang pass, where BRO struggles hard every year during the rainy season to keep it operative round the clock. During the rainy season, frequent landslides were reported between Marhi and Rohtang, which blocked the traffic for days together.

As a result, commuters and tourists get stuck in traffic jams for days together every year without any food. The worst sufferers are those who visit with children because it becomes difficult for them to make arrangements of milk and other food items because most of the time, they are not prepared for this situation.

The second portion of the road gave way between Keylong and Darcha, a 23-km long stretch, where cracks developed in the middle of the road before Jispa village. Apart from this, there are a few rivulets between Sissu and Keylong, which directly flow on road. During rainy season, the water level in these rivulets increases drastically, bringing a lot of debris along and blocking traffic for hours on the road.

The Manali-Leh road is the lifeline for the people of tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti, who want better road facility to promote tourism in the region. According to them, when tourists suffer, it adversely impacts their tourism industry, which is in its initial stage.

Taking stock of the Manali-Leh road situation, the BRO authorities are planning to engage experts of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, to conduct a research and find out a permanent solution to the problem. IIT Mandi is conducting a research in the Himalaya region about the causes of landslide and its solution and early warning about landslides.

Apart from this, the BRO is engaging CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Delhi, to conduct the survey on this road and suggest better techniques to protect it. The major cause of sinking is being considered as loose strata, long time moisture in the land because the region receives heavy snowfall between Manali and Sarchu during the winter season every year. 

CSIR- CRRI, a premier national laboratory established in 1952, a constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is engaged in carrying out research and development projects on design, construction and maintenance of roads and runways, traffic and transportation planning of mega and medium cities, management of roads in different terrains, improvement of marginal materials, utilisation of industrial waste in road construction, landslide control, ground improvements environmental pollution, road traffic safety and analysis and design, wind, fatigue, corrosion studies, performance monitoring/evaluation, service life assessment and rehabilitation of highway and railway bridges.

The institute provides technical and consultancy services to various user organisations in India and abroad. For capacity building of human resources in the area of highway engineering to undertake and execute roads and runway projects, the institute has the competence to organise National and International Training Programmes continuing education courses since 1962 to disseminate the R&D finding to the masses. 

Sources in the BRO told The Tribune that the authority was now planning a permanent solution of rivulets coming on this route. The BRO is planning to construct bridges on rivulets, which are flowing on road till now and hamper traffic during the rainy season. The BRO authority will dig out a road to channel rivulet water under the bridge.

“The BRO is planning to fix all geographical problems on the 222-km Manali-Sarchu highway by constructing concrete walls and making vulnerable areas wide enough to ensure that two vehicles pass at a time,” an official said.

Past incidents

• October 1, 2017: A massive landslide was reported at Muling, 10 km before Keylong in Lahaul valley on the Manali-Leh highway, which blocked the road for one day
• June 29, 2018: Flashflood reported in Telling Nullah near Koksar village on the Manali-Leh highway, which blocked the road for 30 hours
• March 20, 2019: Massive landslide reported near Nehru kund, just 7 km from Manali towards Rohtang pass on the Manali-Leh highway, which blocked the road for hours 
• August 23, 2019: A massive landslide was reported near Banda mod between Marhi and Rohtang pass on Manali-Leh highway, which blocked the road for two days.