Barot-Multhan road reopened, Chota Bhangal farmers relieved

Bringing much-needed relief to the residents of Chota Bhangal panchayat and nearby human settlements, the Public Works Department (PWD) has reopened the Barot-Multhan road after a month-long closure caused by heavy rain.

Ajay Kumar Sood, Executive Engineer of the PWD, Baijnath division, said that the road was made motorable for light vehicles from today. “Connectivity has been restored and traffic movement is being allowed,” he added.

The prolonged road blockade near Garola village had left farmers of this remote high-altitude region in distress. With no means to transport, their produce, a large quantities of cabbage, cauliflower, radish, pumpkin and other vegetables, were either left to rot in fields or remained unsold. Farmers said that they had suffered unprecedented financial losses during what should have been their peak harvesting season.

The Chota Bhangal’s vegetable produce is normally supplied to markets in Baijnath, Palampur, Jogindernagar and other nearby towns, fetching good returns for the small cultivators. However, this year’s disruption cut off their only link to buyers and the produce could not be for many weeks.

Now, with the road reopening, cultivators Tilak Raj, Ram Lal, Krishna Chand, Mangat Ram and Ram Krishna expressed hope that they would now be able to sell their remaining produce. “Though we have already suffered huge losses, the reopening of the road has provided us a ray of hope,” they said.

The farmers also recalled that they had never seen such a prolonged closure in recent years. “The road has never been shut for such a long time. This time, the month-long blockade forced our vegetables to rot in the fields,” they told local mediapersons.

Meanwhile, residents and cultivators have urged the state government and the agriculture and horticulture departments to send officials to assess the crop damage caused by heavy rain and provide immediate compensation to the affected families.