Highway caves in near Solan; vehicular traffic diverted

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 21

Vehicular traffic was diverted through a single lane near Chambaghat on the Solan-Kaithlighat section of national highway-5 as a portion of the road caved in near the Directorate of Mushroom Research at Chambaghat late Tuesday evening.

Cracks were also visible on the road surface as excavation work was underway to construct a flyover. Since a big crater had appeared right in the middle of the road, only a narrow road was available for the vehicular traffic.

This is the lone road which connects Solan to state capital Shimla and it caters to a large volume of vehicles on a daily basis. Policemen were deputed on the spot to ensure smooth movement of the traffic.

Work to repair the road was started in the morning by the staff of Airef Engineers engaged in four-laning this section of the highway. “Since a pillar has to be erected at the site for construction of a flyover, its base had been dug up but it led to erosion of the earth below the road. Work was underway to fill the crater while the remaining road was repaired by providing support to make it functional,” DSP Ramesh Sharma said.

With buildings on both sides, construction of a flyover is fraught with problems. In another instance, the lower portion of a two-storey guest house of Mohan Meakin had caved in two days ago at Chambaghat rendering the building unsafe for habitation.

This is the second such instance where the highway has caved in on this section of the highway. Earlier, the highway had caved in near Waknaghat in September 2020 and it had disrupted traffic for more than 16 hours.

Four-laning of this 22.91 km stretch road from Solan-Kaithlighat was initiated work in December 2018. Assigned for a 30-month period, the work was awarded at a cost of Rs 598 crore on the engineering procurement and construction mode.