10 months on, many Kullu roads yet to be repaired

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, May 6

Even 10 months after the natural disaster hit the state, many roads in rural areas of Kullu district have not been fully repaired.

The roads in bad shape pose a threat to the safety of locals and commuters. According to sources, the lack of budget is the main reason behind the delay in the repair work.

The Public Works Department (PWD) suffered losses worth about Rs 275 crore due to the torrential rains in July last year. Even though the department has opened most of these roads to vehicular movement, there are dozens of spots on many roads which are still damaged. Their condition is worsening due to the lack of repairs and these spots are an open invitation to accidents. The situation can turn dangerous during this monsoon.

PWD suffered a loss of Rs 275 cr

The Public Works Department (PWD) suffered losses worth about Rs 275 crore due to torrential rains in July last year. Even though the department has opened most of these roads for vehicular movement, there are still dozens of spots on many roads which are still damaged. Their condition is worsening due to lack of repairs and these spots are an open invitation to accidents.

Broken patches on many roads such as Bhuntar-Diyar-Hawaii, Garsa-Bhalan, Bhuntar-Barshaini, Sainj-Banjar, Anni-Nirmand and roads in Kharal and Lug valleys are crying for attention.

The pothole-riddled Aut-Banjar-Jalori road is a great risk to commuters. Recently, patchwork of mud was done on the road from the Khunan Bridge to Mela Ground in Banjar for a visit of the Chief Minister and PWD minister.

The tourist season has started and the stakeholders are concerned over the condition of roads. Jai Singh, a businessman of Jibhi in Banjar, said, “The guests are complaining about the bad condition of the roads.”

Hundreds of link roads in the district are lifelines for horticulturists and agriculturists during the fruits and vegetable season. Prakash, a resident of Sainj, said, “The state government has failed to fix the situation even after 10 months of the disaster. Leaders have made false claims about healing the wounds caused by the natural disaster.”

A resident of Manikaran, Baldev, said, “The next rainy season will be here in two months. There is a little hope of improvement on Bhuntar-Manikaran Road. If the present situation prevails, growers will have to face a lot of inconvenience during the fruit season.”

Stakeholders of tourism sector in Parbati valley fear their tourist season may be hit due to the slow pace of the repair work of roads. The tourists are also facing a lot of problems due to frequent traffic jams.