Road connectivity snapped, life thrown out of gear in lower Kangra

Road connectivity between Nurpur in Kangra district and Chowari in Chamba district was disrupted once again on Sunday, just six days after being restored, as a stretch of over 100 metres near Sanji Nullah was damaged and partially washed away.

The damaged road is a crucial link to the Chamba district headquarters and its Chowari sub-divisional headquarters. It serves as a lifeline for residents of the Bhattiyat Assembly constituency, as it is the primary route for the supply of essential commodities to the region. The disruption has also severely impacted emergency medical access to Tanda Medical College and private hospitals in Pathankot.

Executive Engineer of the PWD Division, Chowari, said departmental machinery has been deployed to repair and clear the damaged stretch.

Earlier, on August 1, torrential rains had disrupted road connectivity on the Lahru–Chowari link road after a 100-metre stretch near Brampla, near Chowari, sank. The road was restored for heavy transport vehicles on August 18. The PWD had restored the link by carving out a new passage through the adjacent hillside.

Meanwhile, torrential rains that lashed the lower Kangra region have disrupted normal life. The wholesale vegetable market at Jassur in Nurpur was inundated with 3-5 feet of water. Traffic on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway was suspended for two hours near Jassur after a seasonal nullah flooded and waterlogged the highway.

One house collapsed in Raja ka Bagh. Nurpur SDM Arun Sharma said the field staff from the Revenue Department had been directed to assess the damage suffered by the affected house owner. Meanwhile, power supply in Nurpur town remained suspended throughout the day.

Torrential rains wreaked havoc in the Indora subdivision, where breaches in Tara Khud in Indora and Chhonchh Khud in the Dahkulara area caused floodwaters to enter houses, shops and industrial units. According to Indora SDM Surinder Thakur, around 200 buildings in Indora town were inundated, along with three houses and a government school premises in Sughbhotolli village.

In one incident, a woman was forced to hold onto a ceiling fan for support when floodwaters rose to six feet inside her home in Indora town. She was later rescued by the NDRF team.