Highways witness heavy damage due to rain

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 11

The state government recently boasted that Himachal had 69 new national highways, many of which were in Kangra district. However, the process of handing over these projects to the National Highways Department and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has hit the repair work of these roads.

While two-lane roads were handed over to the National Highways Department, four-lane roads were given to the NHAI.

The two-lane Matour-Dharamsala-Mcleodganj stretch is one such road that was transferred to the National Highways Department. Due to rain and landslides, the road has developed potholes and become unsafe at many places. However, neither the state PWD nor the National Highways Department is repairing the road.

Chief Engineer, PWD, Dharamsala, SK Ganju said they had transferred the road to the National Highways Department so the responsibility of repairing it was theirs.

RK Minhas, Superintendent Engineer, National Highways Department, said he was on leave for the past one month but as the Matour-Dharamsala-Mcleodganj road had been transferred to them, they would repair it soon.

The Nagrota Bagwan-Ranital-Mubarakpur National Highway, too, is crying for repairs. It is one of busiest roads of the district and is also the gateway to Kangra.

The Kangra bypass on the said national highway has been closed for about a month now since heavy rains had damaged a bridge. Since no effort has been made to open the bypass, the entire traffic is getting diverted to a road passing through Kangra town, leading to traffic blockades.

The road leading from Kangra to Ranital is also badly damaged due to rains but no effort has been made to repair it.

The worst-affected is the Pathankot-Kangra-Mandi National Highway. Since the road was to be four-laned, it has been handed over the NHAI. However, since the land acquisition for four-laning the stretch has not been completed, the company that has been allotted the contract for construction is not taking over the highway. In such a scenario, it is neither being repaired by the National Highways Department nor the NHAI.

The hoteliers’ association of Dharamsala has demanded that roads in the district should be repaired immediately. Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of the association, said, “Roads cater to about 90 per cent of the tourists coming to the district. Since they are in bad shape, it is likely to hit tourism. The National Highways Department should immediately repair the roads that have been damaged in the monsoon season,” he said. 

Hoteliers seek urgent repairs

• The hoteliers’ association of Dharamsala has demanded that roads in the district should be repaired immediately. 
• Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of the association, said, “Roads cater to about 90 per cent of the tourists coming to the district. Since they are in bad shape, it is likely to hit tourism. The National Highways Department should immediately repair the roads that have been damaged in the monsoon season.”