Baddi-Nalagarh highway becomes a trail of tears

Peeved by the crumbling state of the Baddi–Nalagarh national highway and the National Highways Authority of India’s repeated failures to deliver on its promises, angry residents have decided to stage a day-long sit-in protest at Baddi on Thursday. Their anger stems from what they call a “mockery of repair work” despite contracts worth crores being recently awarded to private contractors, the road remains a nightmare.

Doon MLA Ramkumar Chaudhary, voicing the public outrage, launched a fierce tirade against NHAI officials, accusing them of gross negligence and corruption. “The condition of this road is deplorable,” he said, announcing that protesters would also burn effigies of NHAI officials at Baddi Light Chowk at 12 noon on Thursday.

Residents lament that the once-smooth highway has now turned into a stretch of deep craters and swirling dust. Vehicles routinely get stuck in potholes as deep as two feet, while commuters brave endless jams and dangerous diversions. “Driving here feels less like a commute and more like surviving an obstacle course,” remarked one commuter.

What was meant to be an industrial lifeline has now turned into a corridor of suffering — damaging vehicles, choking airways with dust and claiming lives in frequent accidents. MLA Chaudhary minced no words: “Crores have been spent, but there isn’t even a hint of improvement on this 17.37-km stretch. The asphalt layer peeled off within days — no proper compaction, no supervision, no accountability. Just cursory repair and haphazard paver blocks.”

He accused the NHAI of giving contractors a “free run” without technical oversight, turning public money into a spectacle of waste. “We’ve written, called, pleaded — now the time has come for stronger action,” he said, urging citizens, industrialists and all political parties to unite and demand accountability for what has become one of the region’s worst infrastructural failures.