Residents meet DC over poor state of Pucca Tala link road

Urge admn to check soil erosion on hillside

Our Correspondent

Chamba, June 30

Resentment prevails among residents of Chamba town over the inordinate delay by the authorities in improving the condition of the Pucca Tala-Baloo link road, which keeps getting blocked due to soil erosion even after a short spell of rain.

Since this risky site falls under the Chowgan ward of the local municipal council, a delegation led by Congress leader Neeraj Nayar along with ward Municipal Commissioner Khalid Mirza met Deputy Commissioner DC Rana recently and urged him to take immediate preventive measures to check soil erosion.

They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner urging him to save the area located above the escarpment of this hill and below the Pucca Tala-Baloo link road.

They urged him to make the movement of people safe and easy by improving the condition of the hillside along the link road as it was the shortest route to reach the district headquarters.

They said a large number of people walked on this link road every day. Apart from this, two-wheeler riders also prefer to reach the headquarters by this route. Moreover, this route goes to the crematorium of the town. They said the condition of this link road is very bad. Landslides continue from the hill on a part of this route. Besides the death of a schoolstudent due to a landslide, dozens of people have been injured due to stones falling from the hill, they said.

The houses in the upper part had also been threatened due to landslides. They said that effective steps were not being taken to improve the condition of the approach road and check the ongoing landslides from the hills.

Claims to prevent landslides on behalf of the municipal council have not been able to come out with pragmatic results. They urged the DC to depute a team of experts to visit the perilous site, thereby getting a permanent solution to the problem by spraying concrete, besides issuing instructions to the municipal council improving the condition of the road.

The Deputy Commissioner assured the delegation of positive action on the issues mentioned in the memorandum.

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Caption: The Pucca Tala link road along the escarpment of hill in Chamba. File photo.