Una-Hoshiarpur road still closed to traffic

Our Correspondent

UNA, October 3

It will take another five days to restore traffic on the Una-Hoshiarpur road, a portion of which had caved in during heavy rain.

The stretch on National Highway-503 A, about 3 km from the Punjab border, at Pandoga village in Una district had sunk, creating a gorge.

The road has been closed to traffic since September 23, said Ravinder Kumar Sharma, assistant engineer, National Highways Authority of India, Una. The work had begun and about Rs 20 lakh was likely to be spent on the road for a makeshift arrangement. He said later a detailed project report for creating permanent retaining walls on both sides of the road would be prepared.

Debris from hills had also fallen on the road some kilometres away, which was also being cleared. He said the traffic between Una and Hoshiarpur was being diverted through the Una-Amb-Gagret-Hohiarpur and Una-Haroli-Jaijon-Mahilpur roads.

The engineer said debris on the 3-km stretch on the Una-Hamirpur road near Lathiani had now been cleared. A sum of Rs 25 lakh had been spent on clearing the road and a detailed project report for constructing the retaining walls would be prepared for a permanent solution to the problem.