Damaged portion creates traffic bottleneck on Kullu-Manali NH

Long traffic jams have become a norm on the Kullu-Manali National Highway near Bindu Dhank as only one-way traffic is being allowed through a flood-hit stretch that has been repaired partially.

Need quick action

If the condition of the road is not improved by month-end, it will have an adverse impact during the coming festival season. — Tek Chand, Tourism beneficiary

After a 20-m portion of the road was washed away by a swollen Beas on July 31, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had, on August 4, restored the stretch partially.

The stretch is rocky and slushy and motorists have to negotiate through it with precaution, which is time consuming. Long queues of vehicles extending up to 2 km can be seen on both sides of the bottleneck, especially during evening hours when Volvo buses and vehicles carrying fruits are on the move. Compounding the chaos, street vendors have started selling eatables along the road.

Ashok Chauhan, Regional Engineer, NHAI, Kullu, said tarring of the damaged stretch was done yesterday.

Manali DSP KD Sharma said traffic from either side of the bottleneck was being cleared at regular intervals. “Lane jumpers and violators are being penalised and police personnel have been deployed to regulate the traffic at Bindu Dhank,” he added.

Rajeev, a resident of Kullu, said few days ago his car remained stuck in the damaged portion for over two hours when he was going to Kullu from Manali. He added that finally he decided to take the left bank road to reach his destination. “However, a truck had overturned at Jagatsukh village and we were again stuck for another two hours,” he lamented.

Sushil, a resident of Manali town, alleged that the NHAI’s working was very slow and the condition of the road was better when it was with the Public Works Department. “It has been over a month, but NHAI is still continuing with the stop-gap arrangement. The flow of the river can be diverted and the road can be temporarily made wider to enable two-way traffic, he added.”

Tek Chand, a tourism beneficiary, said if the condition of the road did not improve this month, it will have an adverse impact during the coming Dussehra and Diwali season. He alleged, “Working of the NHAI was questionable as it was taking a long time to repair a minor damage to the road. The Raison stretch of about 100 m that was damaged in floods in July 8 last year was fully restored and carpeted in May this year, only to be damaged again on July 31.”

He said necessary steps should be taken to temporarily widen the road at the earliest and some concrete solution should be devised so that the NH do not face frequent damage even due to a minor flood, which was happening here regularly.

Manali SDM Raman Kumar Sharma said the NHAI had been asked to widen the road.