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| Saturday, June 24, 2000 |
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So long
as ‘neath the Kalka hills — Kipling SIMLA was the ultimate playground for the British. The Town Hall, a typically British structure, had been built on the Ridge. It was a little bit of England in Shimla!
Beyond Shimla it was possible to get to Narkanda but the track was a mule track. The mule was the preferred pack animal. Tough, hardy, capable of carrying heavy loads at high altitudes and over rugged terrain. This mule track wound its way to Shipki La, and thence to Tibet. For centuries, it had been a tributary of the silk route. Goods like dry fruit, precious stones, wool, livestock and of course spice, were carried on this road all the way between the south and Kashmir. The state of Bushahr had trade agreement with Tibet. |
| All this was of great concern and interest
to the British, especially the East India Company.
Napoleon once described the British as "a nation of
shopkeepers". The British grasped the opportunity to
expand their trade and set up shop beyond Shimla. It is
interesting to note that Spiti once "belonged"
to the East India Company. The status changed after 1857.
Lord Dalhousie was responsible for a lot of this expansion and this expansionist attitude ultimately led to the mutiny in 1857. Dalhousie was barely 36 years old when he came to India as Governor-General. From Calcutta, Dalhousie travelled on theGrand Trunk Road till Umballa (today Ambala) and then to Simla.
The mule trains would depart from Sanjauli and cross to Dhalli over the mountains, then pass through Fagu and Theog to Narkanda. The route from Sanjauli to Dhalli was a difficult one and for a road to be made a tunnel had to be built. Work started on this tunnel in 1850 and by end of 1851 the tunnel was complete. It was quite simply a hole bored through the massive rock and it stayed that way till 1902. That year Lord Kitchner broke a leg because his horse tripped in the tunnel. This led to immediate repairs and even today this tunnel carries most of the traffic on NH 22. This Shimla by-pass — the new NH 22 — is now aligned to the other side of the tunnel. Even after a 100 years of building the road, the roadhead was still at Narkanda. Only in the mid-1950s was work started on a motorable road. The old road via Baggi was too steep for motor vehicles and the new road passed through Oddi, Kumarsain and Kingal. The old Hindustan-Tibet Road has a new avtaar in National Highway 22. It starts in Ambala and ends in Kaurik on the Tibet border. It has been instrumental in bringing prosperity to the apple growers of Kinnaur.
Years ago George Woodcock in his book My Worst Journeys described the inner Himalayas as: "Well-founded
fear, The Himachal PWD is responsible for the maintenance of the road till Karcham, beyond that it is the responsibility of BRO (Border Roads Organisation). The NH 22 is, without doubt, one of the wonders of road building.The terrain, the altitude, the weather — everything was against the engineers. The road is a lifeline for the people of Kinnaur and Spiti. This was abundantly clear in August 1997 when a cloud burst caused flash floods that washed away the RCC bridge at Wangtu. The Indian Army came to the rescue. In record time and with serious constraints of space, they built a 400-foot Bailey bridge, the longest in Asia. The 107 Engineer Regiment was responsible for the construction of this bridge. The flash flood that washed away the bridge also created a huge lake. Undeterred, the engineers made two 18-ton rafts, which moved 2187.5 tons of essential supplies and 3.23 lakh apple crates. The army ferried 911 vehicles, mostly trucks.
Sumdo is as far as you can go along NH 22. Keep in mind that petrol stations and places to stay are rare on this road. Powari is the last petrol station till Kaza, 200 km away. Two of the dirtiest petrol stations are on this route. One inNarkanda and the other in Kaza — the highest retail outlet in the world. The machinery was broken down. A handcrank was used to pump petrol, that too kept breaking down. To add insult to injury, we were at the petrol pump at 6.30 am. At 8.30 we were told, "Yeh sarkari pump hai, sarkari time par khuley ga". 10.30 or there abouts! A unique way to promote tourism. However, all this is forgotten and of little importance.The Hindustan-Tibet Road which has metamorphosed into NH 22 is one of the most awe-inspiring drives in the world. The memories will linger forever. |
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A road existed from Kalka to
Simla (today’s Shimla).To make it fit for a tonga
the old road via Jutogh was preferred to the road
that went to Shimla via Dharampur and Solan. This road is
now the National Highway 22 and indeed it is a fine
example of what a hill road should be. It is wide, smooth
and fast. A superb drive.
It did not take long for
Dalhousie to see the importance of a road from Shimla to
Shipki. So in June 1850, exactly 150 years ago, work
began on the Great Hindoostan-Tibet Road. The work
proceeded under the supervision of the
Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles Napier of Peccavi
fame. That was his one-Latin-word telegram to the
Governor-General. Peccavi in Latin means, "I
have sinned". Napier had just annexed Sindh!
The difficult terrain spells
danger. Numerous markers stand mute testimony to the
efforts of men who laid down their lives building the
road.
Every
milestone along this route mentioned Kaurik, the end of
NH 22. However, this information is useless since it is
not possible to drive till Kaurik.