Dotted with potholes, Rohru link road poses risk

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 4

Travelling on a 24-km unmetalled stretch from Ghanasidhar to Daidhar on the Narkanda-Baghi- Ghanasidhar-Tikkar-Rohru link road in the upper Shimla region is nothing less than a nightmare.

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The 63-km stretch from Narkanda to Rohru is full of potholes and huge stones pose grave risk, besides causing damage to vehicles. Against the normal driving time of about two hours, commuters are completing the 63-km journey in more than four hours as the single-lane road is dotted with metalled, semi-metalled and unmetalled patches.

This alternate route assumed significance in the past few years due to the widening of Theog-Hatkoti National Highway.

“This route is used for the transportation of apples, but a heavy traffic of apple-laden trucks damaged the kutcha road, which is crying for attention and facing neglect after the completion of the Theog- Hatkoti road,” says Suraj, a resident of Rohru.

The condition turns worse during winters and the apple season when vehicles break down or get stuck in snow, causing long traffic jams. Commuters complained that following the completion of the Theog- Hatkoti road, the link roads are in a bad shape.

“The road snaking through the apple belt with an altitude ranging between 9000 ft and 3500 ft is in a pathetic condition as no repair work has been carried out for the past 10 to 12 years,” says a villager.

About 12,000 villagers would be benefited with the construction of the road, which was a short cut to Narkanda, said pradhan of the Tikkar panchayat Praveen Azad.

“The construction of the

24-km stretch was awarded to contractor Rajinder Negi in February under the PMSGY-II, but the work could not be started due to a shortage of labour amid the Covid-19 outbreak,” said Executive Engineer, Rohru division, Pawan Garg.