Bailey bridge to be installed near Theog landslide site

Sameer Singh

Shimla, June 19

A day after a major landslide at Theog on the Hindustan-Tibet road (NH-5) cut off upper Himachal areas from Shimla, a landslide occurred near Parala on a state highway in Shimla district today.

The vehicular movement remained disrupted for about three hours before the PWD workers cleared the road. Commuters going toward or coming from Rohru and Jubbal Kotkhai faced inconvenience.

One-way traffic in a week

We have decided to provide immediate relief to the commuters by installing a bailey bridge… to allow single-lane traffic movement. It will take around a week to install the bailey bridge. Suresh Kapoor, PWD Chief engineer

Meanwhile, the situation at Theog turned from bad to worse as another landslide was reported at the same spot this morning and a portion of the retaining wall and its foundation got damaged. PWD officials said now the restoration of the NH-5 would take around a month, instead of a week, as estimated earlier.

PWD officials said they were planning to install a bailey bridge there so that the traffic to upper areas could be restored, pending the complete restoration of the NH-5.

PWD Executive Engineer (XEN) PP Singh said, “Another landslide occurred at the same spot in Theog this morning. Earlier it was expected that the NH-5 repair would take around a week, but after the fresh landslide, it was likely to take around one month. Senior officials of the department have visited the site and they are planning to install a bailey bridge there to restore traffic across that point.”

Meanwhile, tourists and commuters faced a lot of inconvenience for the second consecutive day as they had to take long alternative routes to reach at their respective destinations.

Three landslides have been reported in the Theog area alone within three weeks.

PWD Chief Engineer (NH Wing) Suresh Kapoor said, “The work of retaining wall will consume around a month, so we have decided to provide immediate relief to the commuters by installing a bailey bridge at the landslide site in Theog to allow single-lane traffic movement. It will take around a week to install the bailey bridge.”

PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh also visited the landslide site at Theog. He instructed the officials to complete the work in a time-bound manner.