Thanks to poor roads, tourists give Kasauli a skip

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, June 26

Lack of basic amenities and dilapidated condition of the narrow roads in Kasauli are acting as deterrent for the tourists to visit this quaint hill station on the weekends.

Most hotels have registered a 20 to 25 per cent dip in the business as the tourist inflow has declined during the last five years. 

What has added to the misery of the tourists is the frequent traffic jams occurring on the Parwanoo-Dharampur section of the NH-5 as well as at the Garkhal junction, which is too narrow for the voluminous vehicular traffic.

General manager of a resort, while decrying the prolonged highway widening work, said the plumes of dust which emanated from the construction sites on the highway were causing steep rise in temperature. With thousands of trees having been axed, Kasauli has witnessed abnormally high temperature, soaring up to 39 degree C in summers.

“The tourists who visit Kasauli fail to experience cool climes for which the town was once famous. This was dissuading the tourists from choosing the town as an ideal tourist destination”, he said. 

At a time when the state government is endeavouring to attract tourists, it was lamentable that even the newly carved out Kimmughat-Chakki-ka-Mor Road, where several tourism projects are located, has not been maintained properly. Rain has compounded the problem. As it is full of potholes, driving on the stretch has become cumbersome.

Rocky Chimney of Kasauli Residents and Hotel Association said despite key dignitaries visiting these resorts, the road had not been adequately maintained and was full of bumps. He said tourists did not want to stay there for more than two days as bad roads and never-ending traffic jams were acting as deterrents.

Though a multi-level parking was under way in Kasauli, it would take at least a year to complete. The town lacked parking space and vehicles could be seen parked haphazardly all over the roads during the weekends when tourist inflow was the maximum.

The NGT had directed the state government in October 2018 to explore the possibility of decongesting the Garkhal junction but little has been done in this matter till now.