Thural turns into a bottleneck, harried motorists seek bypass

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, March 12

Traffic jams have become a common sight on the Palampur-Hamirpur highway in Thural, which is causing inconvenience to commuters who travel to Hamirpur, Sujanpur, Shimla and Chandigarh.

Travelling on the narrow stretch of the highway is nothing sort of a nightmare for drivers. Despite a surge in the number of vehicles, efforts have not been made to construct a bypass at Thural. Several mishaps have been reported in the past. Mostly two-wheelers were involved in the road accidents, but the PWD, which looks after the upkeep of the highway, seems unconcerned with the situation. Besides, idle parking along the roadside in the Thural market has further aggravated the problem.

Long queues of vehicles and encroachments on both sides of the highway have left the stretch squeezed from four to five metres in the market. Emergency vehicles such ambulances and fire service vehicles find it tough to move in traffic jams.

A senior police officer said the traffic police personnel were deployed to regulate vehicles, but long jams could not be averted due to narrow roads and movement of heavy vehicles to nearby stone crushers.

Several residents, including Ashwani Gautam, Munish Verma and Suresh Kumar, of Thural demanded a solution to the traffic problem. They said the government should immediately construct a bypass in view of the heavy volume of vehicles on the highway. They said the single-lane highway should be converted into a double or four-lane stretch as it links Kangra district with Shimla and Chandigarh.

MLA Vipin Parmar said a DPR for converting the highway into double lane had already been prepared. He said it was pending with the state government for approval.

The MLA said since the new government was formed in the state, the project has been on the non-priority list, which causing inconvenience to the public.

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