Call to speed up widening of Chamba-Shimla road via Jot

Balkrishan Prashar

Chamba, July 18

Residents of Chamba district have demanded that the widening of the Chamba-Shimla road via Jot should be expedited for the smooth flow of traffic and to reduce the journey time. This is the most convenient road that links Chamba with the rest of Himachal Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Punjab.

This route was earlier approved as a national highway but no headway could be made till now.

As a large number of spots on the route are accident prone, the road widening work was initiated from Chamba but not much progress has been made so far. Several key spots are without crash barriers and parapets. “This is one of the key roads in the district which is used by a large number of tourists and devotees visiting the famous Manimahesh shrine round the year. The route witnesses huge vehicular movement from April to November. Even buses to Kangra and Shimla ply on this route regularly,” the residents said.

They said that tourists visit exquisite Jot and Khajjiar on the way. The way to Chamba via the Jot Pass passes through a picturesque area, which is blessed with a bounty of nature and attracts a large number of tourists every year.

The road is too narrow at several places and hampers smooth vehicular movement. Fatal accidents have been reported on the road.

Local residents have urged the government to widen the Chamba-Shimla road via Jot for safe and easy traffic movement keeping in view the significance of this road — this is the shortest route from Shimla to Chamba.

Jeet Singh Thakur, Executive Engineer, HPPWD Chamba Division, said that the government had sanctioned Rs 15 crore under the Central Roads Funds for road widening, tarring and installing crash barriers up to Jot. Construction work was in full swing. The work on the seven-km portion of the road had been completed, he said.

Sudhir Mittal, Executive Engineer, PWD Dalhousie Division, said that Rs 53 lakh was being spent to widen the road from Jot to Chowari.

Sans crash barriers and parapets

As a large number of spots on the route are accident prone, widening work was initiated from Chamba but not much progress has been made so far. Several key spots are without crash barriers and parapets.