Ravinder Sood
Palampur, October 21
A 200-metre stretch of the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway, close to a narrow bridge near the Agro Petrol Pump on the outskirts of Palampur, has become a virtual death trap.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which looks after the maintenance of the highway, is yet to take remedial measures.
According to official sources, seven persons have lost their lives on this stretch in the past two years. A senior engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD), while talking to The Tribune, said that the bridge and the road were constructed during the British era. Since then, no maintenance work had been undertaken on it.
He said that since the NHAI changed the alignment of the proposed new four-lane, it had neglected the 40-km stretch of the Pathankot–Mandi NH between Parour and Jogindernagar. Though there was a plan to widen this highway to four lanes, no headway had been made and the condition of the highway had gone from bad to worse, he added.
Union Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had laid the foundation stone of the project in 2017.
Anil Sen, Project Director of NHAI, said that the matter was already in his notice and necessary steps were being taken to repair the damaged portion of the highway.
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