Traffic movement on Tibet road remains suspended as boulders fall at Nathpa in Kinnaur district

Sameer Singh

Shimla, November 1

The restoration work of the Hindustan-Tibet road landslide site at the NH-5 at Nathpa in Kinnaur district was disrupted today as shooting stones and heavy boulders kept falling on the road.

The officials of PWD claimed that more than 80 per cent road clearance work had been completed but boulders and debris were falling regularly, thereby hampering the complete restoration of the national highway. Notably, after the landslide on October 27, the traffic movement on the national highway remained disrupted for sixth day at a stretch on Wednesday. Prior to that, the vehicular movement on the national highway was disrupted for more than 12 days after three massive landslides occurred in the district in October.

Officials of the department said the road was supposed to be restored on Wednesday but now with stones falling in large numbers it will take another day or two before it could be reopened for vehicular movement. Excessive rain during the monsoon season has rendered the soil strata fragile. As a result, landslides have become frequent in the district, said an official.

Executive Engineer, Rampur, Kishori Lal Suman, said, “The clearance work on most part of the road at the landslide site has been completed but continuous falling of boulders and stones has affected the restoration work adversely.”

“We have to stop the work and machinery engaged in clearing the road when stones start falling as a precautionary measure. But we are continuing with the restoration work. This last stretch is steep and falling of boulders has made the restoration a challenging task. We are hopeful of clearing the road for vehicular movement in a day or two,” added Suman.