Transporting farm produce an uphill task for Kullu villagers

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, July 22

Poor condition of link roads in Kullu district is a big concern for farmers of the district who transport their produce to distant markets.

Data shows that 714 km of road network is not metalled in Kullu district. These roads turn muddy during the rainy season, which causes inconvenience to people in taking carrier vehicles of apple produce safely to distant markets on time.

The worst affected parts are Ani and Nirmand area, which is known as the apple belt region of Kullu district. The roads leading from Dalash to Ani via Chuvai, Ani to Dalash via Jhundva and a few others are full of potholes and get filled with slush during the rainy season. This creates problems for farmers in transporting their produce to the market on time.

Similarly, residents of the Sainj valley are facing the brunt of the bad condition of road near Pagal Nala, which connects the valley with Kullu district. During the rainy season, a 500-m-long stretch of road turns marshy every year, due to which traffic gets stuck for many hours or even days.

There are similar reports from other parts of the district, where village links roads are not metalled and in a bad condition. The monsoon season adds to the woes of farmers.

Budhi Singh Thakur and Bhag Chand Verma, apple orchardists from the Ani region, rued several link roads in villages were in a bad shape and needed to be metalled to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Similarly, residents of the Sainj valley said the state government should make efforts to make the Kullu-Sainj road smooth via Pagan Nala.

Naresh Kumar, Sunita Devi and a few other residents of the valley said locals were facing hardships due to the bad condition of the road near Pagal Nala.

Superintendent of Engineer, Public Works Department, Kullu, Anil Sangrai claimed the department had deployed adequate machinery at vulnerable spots in different parts of the district to restore traffic movement quickly in case of landslide or other reasons during the rainy season.