Solan Ward Watch Basal Patti Kather: Broken roads cry for attention

Ambika Sharma

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Solan, February 21

The roads in the Basal Patti Kather ward of the Solan Municipal Corporation are in a pitiable condition. No funds have been kept for the repair and maintenance of the roads in the rural area, which was merged with the civic body in 2020.

The villagers feel cheated as they were promised funds for the civic amenities at the time of the merger with the MC. They were given a three-year exemption from payment of taxes as an incentive at that time. After the tax holiday ended in October 2023, a survey is underway to work out new property tax rates.

“Earlier, the panchayats used to spend whatever funds they could spare on the repair of the roads in the interior areas. We were hopeful that the roads will be maintained regularly after the merger of the rural areas with the Solan MC, but not a single penny has been spent on their upkeep in the last three years,” rued Vikas, a resident of the area.

He added that, “We are ready to pay taxes, but we also want infrastructure like the Solan city. We were promised that streetlights and close-circuit TV cameras would installed in our ward.”

The road above Shiv temple, along the National Highway, deteriorates with every spell of rain since the NH four-lane work has started. The shoddy repair work undertaken by the highway contractor has severally damaged the village roads. Even the access to the temple had been cut twice in the last two years.

Power house road, warehouse road, the inner and outer roads leading to the Surya Kiran Colony and road leading to Shiv temple in the inner Kather area are dotted with potholes.

With no repair work undertaken for years, majority of the roads have been reduced to mere dirt tracks.

“A large number of women from the area work in shifts in the nearby factories and many of them return home at odd hours. There is a dire need to install CCTV cameras to make their commute safe. However, no one has heeded to this demand,” said Rakesh, another resident.

The ward hosts important places like a warehouse, a power house, HRTC workshop, etc.

The construction work for a multi-specialty hospital has led to the movement of multi-axle trucks and heavy machinery causing immense wear and tear of the already broken roads.