Road to Shillai closed for third day, commuters suffer

Pankaj Sharma

Nahan, June 26

Despite ongoing efforts, the National Highway (NH)-707 remained closed to traffic for the third consecutive day, causing significant inconvenience to commuters and residents.

The highway, which has been shut since Monday evening, shows no signs of reopening soon due to the slow progress of the road restoration work carried out by a private construction company. Sources said it might take several days before the road became fully operational.

Today, Shillai Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Surender Mohan inspected the site, and instructions were given to the private construction company and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) officials to expedite the reopening process.

The disruption occurred near the Lohrahan bend at Uttari, close to Shillai town on Monday evening, where a massive landslide blocked the route. Residents have accused the private construction company of unscientific practices and MoRTH officials of neglecting public grievances, claiming that the company conducted unscientific deep cutting on the hillside to extract material for their stone crusher. This allegedly led to a significant portion of the hill collapsing, blocking the road and damaging private lands above the slope. The debris, filled with large boulders, has completely covered the highway, and some rocks have even reached the grazing lands of locals below.

Residents here allege that the company is being negligent in restoring the road and has deployed only one machine to remove the debris, while four heavy breaker machines are being used to process stones at the company’s stone crusher. Residents said if more heavy machines are allocated to clearing the road, it could be reopened sooner.

Surender Mohan stated that strict instructions had been given to the company and MoRTH officials to reopen the road promptly, and notices had been issued to the private construction company regarding the damages caused to the villagers.

‘Unscientific practices’

Residents have accused the private construction company of unscientific practices and MoRTH officials of neglecting public grievances, claiming the company conducted unscientific deep cutting on hillside to extract material for their stone crusher. This allegedly led to a significant portion of the hill collapsing, blocking the road and damaging private lands above the slope.