Nurpur villagers demand motor crossing, service lane on NH-154

The residents of Bagni village situated on both sides of the existing Pathankot-Mandi National Highway-154 near Nurpur in Kangra district have are demanding the construction of a vehicular crossing, retaining wall and a service lane in their area. They submitted a memorandum of demand signed by the villagers and addressed to the Project Director, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Palampur, to Kangra MP Rajiv Bhardwaj and the Nurpur SDM on Monday.

In the memorandum, the villagers lamented that the NHAI had no plan to build a vehicular crossing, retaining wall and a service lane at Baghni and in the absence of this provision, both residents and commuters were facing a lot of hardship after the Kandwal-Bherkhud stretch (phase 1) of the Pathankot-Mandi four-lane highway widening project was completed. They said that deep excavation of the existing highway stretch and raising its level had necessitated the construction of a vehicular crossing and a proper drainage system along with a retaining wall at their native village.

The villagers also pleaded that as a DAV Senior Secondary Public School, Government Secondary School, Atama Pragya Ashram, Anganwari Kendra and a temple were located at Bagni, a vehicular crossing was urgently required keeping in view the convenience and safety of the villagers as well as commuters, who were forced to use the four-lane highway after its completion.

They said that schoolchildren and vehicles ferrying them face the risk of accidents in the absence of a highway crossing or diversion. MR Rana, Principal of DAV Public School, says that the school has 23 buses for ferrying students and in the absence of a vehicular crossing nearby, easy traffic movement will be a problem.