No respite from snarl-ups at Garkhal junction

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, March 31

An early respite from traffic snarls at Garkhal junction en route Kasauli is not in sight as fresh bids have been invited for the much-awaited flyover proposed to be constructed to decongest the road.

Traffic jams a major challenge for cops

• With the onset of summer in the plains, weekend tourists are arriving in large numbers and traffic jams have become a major challenge for the police at the junction
• The narrow single lane roads are not only unfit to carry the voluminous traffic but local residents are forced to stay indoors as even walking on the road becomes risky
• The flyover will start near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road

Five roads converge on this junction, two to the Parwanoo-Dharampur national highway while others lead to Kasauli, Jagjitnagar and a link road leading to nearby villages.

RIDC Superintending Engineer (SE) Mahesh Rana said: “Initially, two bidders had come forward, but only one fulfilled the technicalities for the bid that was opened in September last year.”

Since a single bidder had fulfilled the formalities, it could not find favour with the state government. After waiting for several months for approval, the RIDC has finally re-tendered the project.

The Public Works Department’s Road and Infrastructure Development Corporation (RIDC) was executing the project. Fresh bids were invited on March 11. A month’s time has been given for opening the bids and the staff hopes to complete the formalities.

With the onset of summers in the plains, weekend tourists were arriving in large numbers and traffic jams have become a major challenge for the police at the junction. The narrow single lane roads are not only inadequate to carry the voluminous traffic but local residents are forced to stay indoors as walking on the road becomes risky.

Instead of realising the problems faced by the local residents, the state government wasted months in according approval to the single bidder despite the RIDC having completed the formalities and decided to invite fresh bids after wasting months.

This will further delay the construction of the flyover, which will be completed within a year and a half after the work is initiated.

The RIDC staff ensured that no private land was acquired for the flyover as locals had resented land acquisition. This would have also delayed the project while adding to the project cost.

The flyover will be constructed from near the bus stand at Garkhal on the Garkhal-Dharampur road and extend across the valley to the far end of the Garkhal-Kasauli road. The structure will have two piers and two abutments with the central pier being 85 m high. Larsen and Toubro surveyed the area in June 2022 and an estimate of Rs 27 crore was prepared. The amount as later brought down to Rs 25.99 crore.

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