Fresh spell of rain, opening of Parwanoo highway to be delayed

Ambika Sharma

Solan, August 4

The Parwanoo-Dharampur stretch of the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway will remain closed for two more days as a 250-metre portion of the road is sinking due to continuous falling of mounds of earth on it from hills at Chakki Mor.

The damage to the highway is increasing with every fresh spell of rain. A 40-metre road stretch had eroded earlier but the damaged portion had now widened to around 250 metres.

Debris is being continuously cleared from the highway but fresh mounds of earth are falling on it from a hill, a sizable part of which is crumbling. What has made the authorities more worried is the fact that about a 250-metre portion of the highway is also sinking. The road lies above the Kaushalya river. The authorities concerned can’t undertake any concrete measures till the falling of debris is contained.

A railway tunnel is located about 500 metre to 700 metre above the hill, which is part of the world heritage Kalka-Shimla railway track. The continuous erosion of this hill can endanger the tunnel. Rail traffic is halted for the past three weeks as multiple landslips and falling boulders had caused large scale damage to the track. The work to restore the track is underway.

“There is no immediate danger to the tunnel located 500 metre to 700 metre above but the continuous erosion of the hill below it is hampering the work to restore the highway,” said Balwinder Singh, project in-charge, GR Infraprojects, which is handling road restoration work.

He added that if there was no more rain, efforts were afoot to open the highway for small vehicles in the next two days. Meanwhile, officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are continuously monitoring the work and have requisitioned experts for slope stabilisation.

Arun Sharma, a former state geologist, said, “Experts from the Geological Survey of India should be roped in to suggest effective measures to stabilise the slope and rectify engineering defects that may have emerged now.”

He said an expert geologist should be included in the committee constituted by the NHAI to examine the damaged highway. Being the gateway to Himachal, the closure of this highway is causing hardships to people, who are forced to use narrow arterial roads for commuting.