Conceived in 2009, Kasauli plan remains on paper

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, May 27

With the successive governments failing to undertake widening of roads in the Kasauli Planning Area, the narrow serpentine roads are experiencing unmanageable traffic during weekends.

The Dharampur-Kasauli road is the worst affected due to the presence of 60 hotels. Equally pitiable is the condition of the Garkhal-Jagjitnagar road, which needs regular maintenance.

A development plan for Kasauli was chalked out in 2009. After taking note of the existing road infrastructure, the authorities concerned had stressed the need to construct the Garkhal bypass. 

The need to widen the road leading to Kasauli had also been highlighted in the development plan. 

Despite the lapse of nearly nine years, no such proposal has been initiated by the state government. Though, some cursory surveys were undertaken by officials of the Public Works Department (PWD), nothing concrete was done to put the plan into action.

Virender Kashyap, MP, Shimla, said he would take up the issue with the Ministry of Surface Transport. 

A recent study conducted by the NGT on the carrying capacity of the area has stressed on the need to develop a transport area before the Garkhal junction with adequate parking for trucks.

It also proposed adequate parking lot to reduce roadside parking as this too added to the traffic chaos on the already narrow road. 

The Kimughat chowk and the chowk near the PWD office are the other bottlenecks identified by the study. 

It also suggested the need to shift the Kasauli bus stand outside the town as it would help in stopping heavy vehicles to ply to Kasauli.