Dharampur-Kasauli road restored, commuters relieved

Solan, July 28

In a major relief to the commuters, the Dharampur-Kasauli main district road has been opened for traffic three weeks after a major stretch had caved in following torrential rains.

“Nearly a seven-metre wide carriageway has been constructed by excavating the hill and axing 43 trees. A major portion of the road along the valley had caved in and it was not possible to lay retaining walls of more than 10 m height in the rains,” informed SDO PWD Vishal Bhardwaj.

He added that five earth excavation machines, six tippers and adequate labour was deputed to excavate the hill and lay the new road.

It is the main road connecting the Kalka-Shimla National Highway (NH)-5 to the key cantonment town of Kasauli. Commuters, including schoolchildren, office goers and tourists, were forced to use the alternate route through Sanawar to reach Kasauli.

The road was damaged due to reckless excavation of the hill for four-laning the highway below this road. Though similar damage had occurred last year in August too the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) failed to undertake protection work to save the road. This laxity caused dear to the PWD which incurred an expenditure of Rs 14 lakh to lay the new road. In the absence of retaining wall, the road could again cave in as it lacked support from the base.

The NHAI was inviting a fresh tender for slope protection work worth Rs 140 lakh for laying a retaining wall. It was in the tendering stage and the work was likely to begin after the rains.