Widening of Santoshi Mata Chowk begins, will ease traffic congestion

The Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) has initiated the widening of Santoshi Mata Chowk, a major traffic bottleneck on the route to Dharamsala and other parts of the district. The move comes after years of increasing traffic congestion caused by the sharp rise in the number of vehicles, particularly during peak hours.

Santoshi Mata Chowk has long been a choke point, with commuters often stuck for extended periods on the 2-km stretch from Ghuggar and Bindravan to Palampur, which should otherwise take just 15 minutes. The situation has been exacerbated by the lack of road expansion despite a manifold increase in vehicles in the region over the past few decades.

The PWD has begun dismantling a rain shelter and a shop constructed on its land near the chowk to facilitate the widening. A high-level meeting, chaired by local MLA Ashish Butail, was recently held to address the issue, with participation from officials of all departments concerned.

However, local residents argue that widening Santoshi Mata Chowk alone will not fully resolve the problem unless the entire road from Ghuggar to Palampur is expanded.

Traffic jams are commonplace not just at the chowk but across many parts of the town during morning and evening peak hours. Official sources reveal that 3,000-4,000 new vehicles are added to Palampur’s roads every month, yet most roads have remained the same width for over three decades.

Adding to the woes is the lack of parking infrastructure, which forces locals and visitors to park their vehicles in unauthorised spaces, often resulting in fines from traffic police. A multi-storey parking project, proposed over 10 years ago, remains stalled due to bureaucratic delays and lack of initiative from officials.

The absence of proper parking spaces particularly affects weekend tourists visiting Palampur, Baijnath, and Gopalpur, as well as residents and senior citizens visiting banks that have no dedicated parking facilities. With no viable options, many vehicles end up parked along the roadsides or in no-parking zones, attracting penalties.

Residents, commuters and business owners have called for immediate widening of key roads and the completion of pending parking projects to effectively address traffic congestion and parking woes.