Congress show in Solan, roads out of bounds for residents

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 30

A roadshow taken out by the Congress as part of its poll campaign on Mall Road here today inconvenienced commuters, as all major stretches remained closed to vehicular traffic from 12 noon to 4 pm.

Solan Deputy Commissioner had issued directions yesterday to close the Chambaghat-Saproon road till Saproon Chowk as well as the Mall Road from the old DC office to Kotla Nallah today in view of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi’s roadshow.

Though emergency vehicles like fire engines and ambulances were allowed, the restrictions caused troubles to common people.

The two abovementioned roads are the lifelines of the town, as these lead to various health facilities, including Regional Hospital at Solan, which is visited by thousands of people from across the district as well as the neighbouring Sirmaur.

The commuters had to trudge for kilometres in the sweltering heat of 33°C to reach their destinations. As vehicles were stopped from entering the old bus stand, people had to get down at Chambaghat, 3 km from Mall Road.

Those coming from place like Rajgarh, Nauni, Ochghat and other nearby places were also inconvenienced as they had to walk long distances. The commuters coming from Kasauli, Dharampur, Subathu and Arki trudged long distances in the scorching heat to reach their destinations in the town.

“I had come from Dharampur to get my cellphone repaired. I had to walk a long distance in the sweltering heat to reach the shop,” rued Atul, a youth.

The restrictions affected elderly the most, as they could not even hire three-wheelers with major routes closed for vehicular traffic for the better part of the day. “It is not fair to deprive a poor three-wheeler owner the right to earn his livelihood at the cost of political events. Many like me have no other means of eking out a living,” lamented Ramesh, a three-wheeler driver.

The Congress, meanwhile, spared no efforts to make it big show by putting up party flags on electricity poles as well as on the walls of Government Senior Secondary School for Girls on Mall Road.

Banners with pictures of Priyanka Gandhi, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, party’s Shimla parliamentary constituency candidate Vinod Sultanpuri, besides cutouts of MLAs were affixed on electricity poles and walls.

State BJP spokesman Vivek Sharma termed it as a violation of election norms as government buildings can’t be used for campaigning. He also ridiculed the decision of closing the major roads to vehicular traffic for several hours.

He said it was a sorry state of affairs as the district administration bowed before the ruling Congress rather than abiding by the norms. Sharma alleged that 15-year-old minor children were used to raise slogans at the rally, which was also a violation of the norms.