Reckless hill excavation to blame for Kasauli road caving in near Dharampur

The tourist inflow to Kasaul was hampered as a portion of the road leading to this tourist town caved in due to reckless excavation of the hills below for the expansion of the highway near Dharampur to four lanes.

After remaining closed for a few days, the road has been restored to the movemnet of smaller vehicles. The road stretch, however, was vulnerable to more damage as it continued to erode after each rain spell even at other sites in its vicinity. Tourism is the mainstay of the local economy as not many employment avenues are available here.

“Tourists were cancelling bookings in Kasauli owing to the poor condition of the road. There has been a considerable drop in the number of queries by tourists,” said Balbir, an official of the hospitality industry who takes care of bookings.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Solan, Manmohan Sharma, has directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to initiate repair work on the road stretch near an industrial unit near Dharampur. He said, “Since the Dharampur-Kasauli road stretch leads to Kasauli, the NHAI has been directed to initiate repair work on the road that continues to erode. The road can face more damage leading to its closure.”

The NHAI blames the state Public Works Department (PWD) for having invited trouble by failing to put in place an adequate water seepage mechanism and so, no repair work has been done in 10 days. Another subsequent stretch of this road was also giving way. If not repaired, the road will erode further and will become unfit for plying of even smaller vehicles. Tarpaulin sheets have been spread over the damaged road to prevent further damage from water seepage, though it is a temporary measure that will do little to prevent erosion if it rains heavily.

Heavy vehicles like buses and Army trucks are using the arterial route through Sanawar, which was very narrow. The road is full of potholes and badly damaged due to poor upkeep.

Prior to traffic being disrupted due to excavation, this road was sturdy and had not eroded in years even during heavy rainfall.