Finally, Parwanoo-Dharampur road opens for light vehicles

Ambika Sharma

Solan, August 8

Five days after it was closed for vehicular traffic following continuous flow of debris from the hill at Chakki Mor, the Parwanoo-Dharampur section of National Highway (NH)-5 opened for the light vehicles today.

However, the threat of debris flowing down continued to loom large on the motorists as minutes after its opening, a sizable chunk of debris flowed down on the 5-m newly built temporary road.

This obstructed the traffic for another 25 minutes before the machines and labour were deployed to clear it.

Machines, including a recovery van and earth excavation paraphernalia, along with labour, have been kept ready to meet any eventuality. Besides, a patrolling vehicle has been deployed to keep a watch on this vulnerable section.

“The work to strengthen the base of the temporary road by placing crate wire structures on a 100-m stretch was underway. This would provide stability to the road. Other measures like channelling the flow of water through six pipes of 2.5-m each have been laid to contain erosion owing to seepage of water,” Balwinder Singh, project in-charge, GR Infraprojects, which was engaged in the repair and maintenance of the road, said.

While a new design for the restoration of the road has been worked out by the company experts, it was awaiting the final nod from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The expert opinion of the high-level committee that is slated to visit the site soon would also be taken into account before finalising the new design to restore the damaged road stretches on this section.

A visit to the eroding hill by a team of officials from the NHAI and GR Infraprojects had revealed that further erosion could take place as the soil strata was highly fragile.

The vehicular traffic were being permitted to pass in small batches at Chakki Mor. A posse of about 40 police personnel has been deputed to ensure smooth traffic flow.

Heavy vehicles have been directed to use the alternative Shimla-Kunihar-Nalagarh-Pinjore route and Kumarhatti-Nahan-Chandigarh routes.

Movement in small batches

• Machines, including a recovery van and earth excavation paraphernalia, along with labour, have been kept ready to meet any eventuality.
• Besides, a patrolling vehicle has been deployed to keep a watch on the vulnerable Dharampur-Parwanoo section of NH-5.
• The vehicular traffic, including pick-ups, were being permitted to pass in small batches at Chakki Mor. A posse of about 40 police personnel has been deputed to ensure smooth movement of traffic.

Shimla highway reopens for light vehicles

• Five days on, Parwanoo-Dharampur stretch of NH-5 reopened for small vehicles
• Debris from a hill at Chakki Mod had blocked the road following heavy rain
• Minutes after its opening, debris again fell on a portion of newly created road
• Traffic was hit for 25 minutes before machines & labour were deployed to clear it