Delay in Udaipur-Miyar road restoration irks locals in Lahaul
Residents of the Miyar valley in Lahaul and Spiti are increasingly getting frustrated due to the delay in the restoration of the Udaipur-Miyar road, which has been blocked since February 26 due to heavy snowfall. The 32-km-long road, a vital link for locals, remains inaccessible beyond Shakoli Nala, leaving residents of several villages cut off.
The road restoration work is being carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD), but only 7 km of the road has been cleared so far. The situation has caused a lot of inconvenience to the people living in Miyar valley, particularly those residing in Chimret and Tingret panchayats. Approximately 15 villages in these areas have been without road access for weeks, severely disrupting daily life and causing hardship for locals.
Sachin, a resident of Miyar valley, lamented that the prolonged roadblock has left people stranded without proper connectivity. The slow pace of restoration work, he pointed out, has only compounded the problems of the residents.
“The road is a lifeline for our community and we urgently need it to be restored. The pace of the restoration work is much slower than expected and this is causing immense inconvenience to us,” Sachin said.
Prem Dasi, pradhan of Chimret panchayat, echoed these concerns, highlighting that the Public Works Department’s sluggish snow clearance operation was causing hardships for the people of the valley. In addition to the heavy snowfall, several snow avalanches in key areas such as Shakoli, Bhingi, Tamlu and Shili Nalas have rendered the restoration process more complicated. The residents remain uncertain about when the road will be fully open for traffic, particularly up to Khanzar, the last village in the valley.
The restoration work, according to Pawan Rana, Xen of the PWD at Keylong, is progressing, but snow avalanches at various points on the road are hindering the road-clearing work. The accumulated snow, he explained, is extremely hard to remove, delaying the overall process. At Shakoli Nala, it took nearly 14 days to clear the snow from the road. Rana stated that it is expected to take another 20 days to restore the road to both panchayats in the Miyar valley.
