PWD seeks land demarcation for road widening in Sirmaur’s Ronhat Market

Pankaj Sharma

Nahan, August 9

In a significant move to address the growing problem of encroachments along the main road at Ronhat Market in Shillai subdivision of Sirmaur district, the Public Works Department (PWD) has officially requested the Revenue Department to conduct a demarcation of the road. This initiative aims to identify the extent of encroachment by building owners along the road and reclaim the public land for road-widening purposes.

PWD (Ronhat Section) Junior Engineer Lal Singh Chauhan said as per official records, the road’s width was 21.75 m, for which landowners were compensated back in the 1970s. However, over the years, the Laldhang-Paonta-Rajban-Rohru (LPRR) road — once a vital thoroughfare — had become increasingly narrow due to encroachments by nearby building owners, he added.

Taking note of it, PWD (Ronhat subdivision) Assistant Engineer Anil Tomar has asked the Revenue Department to demarcate the road from Reduce Distance (RD) number 106/00 to 107/00 for nearly1 km of the road stretch in the market area to identify those encroaching on the PWD land. This step is crucial for initiating departmental actions against the violators in accordance with the law.

The urgency of the situation has been amplified by recent developments. The Central Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to connect the Trans-Giri region, including the Sanora – Nohradhar – Haripurdhar –Ronhat – Jamli stretch, with a national highway. This proposed national highway will connect with Solan from the Sanora side and another side will connect with National Highway-707 (Paonta Sahib – Gumma – Hatkoti) at Jamli.

This project will upgrade the narrow and accident-prone Solan–Meenus road into a double-lane highway, and the encroached section of the LPRR road in the market is also expected to be a part of this proposed highway.

Locals have largely welcomed the PWD’s efforts, seeing it as a necessary step to restore the road’s width and improve safety, except for those who have illegally occupied the road. Reports indicate that the road, which should measure 21.75 m, has been reduced to less than half in several areas due to the construction of private buildings on the encroached land.

Assistant Engineer Tomar said the ongoing issue of unauthorised construction on the PWD land and LPRR road in market was resulting in significant narrowing of the road.

Despite several notices issued to the encroachers, the problem persisted. Hence, a request had been made to the Naib Tehsildar of Ronhat for a thorough demarcation of the PWD land in Ronhat Market, he added. This step will allow the department to take necessary legal actions against those who have unlawfully occupied public property.

This move is seen as a critical step towards ensuring that the public road is restored to its original width, thus enhancing the safety and accessibility of the region, especially in light of the upcoming national highway project. The demarcation and subsequent actions are expected to set a precedent for dealing with similar issues in other parts of Sirmaur district and entire state.

‘Illegal constructions have led to significant narrowing of road’

• This initiative aims to identify the extent of encroachment by building owners along the road and reclaim the public land for road-widening purposes.
• PWD (Ronhat Section) Junior Engineer Lal Singh Chauhan said as per official records, the road’s width was 21.75 m, for which landowners were compensated back in the 1970s. However, over the years, the Laldhang-Paonta-Rajban-Rohru (LPRR) road had become increasingly narrow due to encroachments by nearby building owners, he said.
• PWD (Ronhat subdivision) Assistant Engineer Anil Tomar said the ongoing issue of unauthorised constructions on the PWD land and LPRR road in market was resulting in significant narrowing

  of the road.