Kullu-Manali National Highway damaged in just 4 years of widening work

The Kullu-Manali national highway (NH-03) has given way within four years of its completion. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), in 2016, had commenced four-laning of the 10 km stretch between Jia and Ramshila on the Bhuntar-Kullu part of national highway on the left bank road and two-laning of 37 km long stretch between Ramshila to Manali through the right bank.

Took five years to complete

It is surprising that it took five years to construct the 47-km long road and it collapsed at many places just within four years. Ashok, Kullu resident

The stretch from Jia to Manali was completed in 2019, after which the toll plaza at Dohlunala became operational. Though the NHAI had acquired land for four-laning the Ramshila-Manali stretch, but only two lanes were built. This stretch remains the only bottleneck on the four-lane Kiratpur-Manali NH, which further connects the strategically important Manali-Leh NH.

The work from Jia to Manali was carried out by the NHAI contractors. Some stretches on this road witnessed subsidence while some areas became prone to landslides. Last year, during the floods on July 8 and 9, about 12 spots having a cumulative length of 3,200 meters had suffered massive damages, while many other parts of the NH had caved in due to which toll collection was stopped at Dohlunala. The road was temporarily restored for one way traffic within five days of the calamity last year but even temporary restoring to double lane for vehicular movement took about two and a half months. The damaged stretches were almost fully restored and carpeted in May this year, however, some significant washed-away portions were left out at that time and were to be repaired in the due course. Toll collection at Dohlunala has not been started again.

This year again, the NH was damaged near Raison and at Bindu Dhank near Kalath in Manali due to floods on July 31. The road was partially repaired for one-way traffic movement on August 4. Ashok, a resident of Kullu, said that it was surprising that it took five years to construct the 47-km long road and it collapsed at many places just within four years.

Vinay, a tourism beneficiary from Manali, said, “The tourist season was adversely affected due to the road’s bad condition. The entire stretch should be four-laned wherever possible and it should be repaired in such a way that it lasts for a few decades.”

Ashok Chauhan, Regional Engineer, NHAI, Kullu said that consultations on the detailed project report (DPR) is on the verge of completion for long term planning to prevent devastation by floods in future to the Kullu-Manali NH. He said, “The alignment is almost the same but better protection measures would be ensured. The highway will remain two-laned only and the left bank road via Naggar will be widened to two lanes later.”