Baijnath, Paprola residents seek bypass to get rid of traffic jams

Despite various representations made to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and local MLA Kishori Lal, there has been no headway in the construction of bypass for Baijnath and Paprola, the two twin towns of Kangra district. In the absence of a bypass, local residents continue to face frequent traffic jams on the narrow Pathankot-Mandi highway passing through these towns. Residents asserted the situation had moved from bad to worse in the past five years.

While talking to reporters today, residents of Baijnath and Paprola said they had expected that NHAI would construct a bypass on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway passing through the town during its upgrade to four lanes. However, now the NHAI had changed the alignment of the highway and had planned to construct a new road that would not pass through these towns. Therefore, the plan to construct the bypass had been shelved, they rued.

Prominent Baijnath residents Munish Dixit, Vikas Baba, Chaman Dohru, Shiv Sood , Jatinder Kaushal, Ghanshyam Awasthi said the state government should take back this stretch of highway from the NHAI and undertake the construction of a bypass from Tashi Jong to the Baijnath railway crossing immediately keeping in view the pathetic traffic problem. They alleged that the alignment of the highway was changed just to oblige few politicians to cover their native villages.

Baijnath MLA Kishori Lal admitted that the situation was really grim as the Mandi-Pathankot highway passing through the town had become a major traffic hazard and the town needed a bypass on an urgent basis. He raised the issue before Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who had assured early action and asked the PWD to submit a DPR of the project to the government. A detailed project report of project had already been sent to the Engineer-in-Chief but the project had not be cleared by the Government of India.

The traffic jams on the narrow Pathankot-Mandi NH, one of the busiest roads of the state, have not only affected business but are also causing hardship to the common man. Many times, ambulances, firefighters and police vehicles are stuck in the traffic for long, causing inconvenience to public. “If this bypass road is constructed, it will help to reduce the burden of traffic in both the towns, especially heavy vehicles, which cause congestion, besides posing a threat to the lives of locals. It is, therefore, necessary to undertake the construction of this bypass as early as possible,” said Kishori Lal, former MLA and senior Congress leader.

However, a senior officer of the state PWD, said the Pathankot-Mandi NH, with a length of 219 km, had been transferred to the NHAI three years ago. "As long as the road is with the NHAI, it is its property and the state government had no authority to construct a bypass on the NH," he said. Only the state government could take the decision after consulting the NHAI, he added.