Palampur-Hamirpur highway in bad shape, no headway in repair works

Palampur, February 20

The narrow Palampur- Hamirpur state highway, one of the busiest roads that links Palampur with Shimla, Chandigarh, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Shimla and Una, is crying for the attention of authorities. During last year’s monsoon, the road was badly damaged by the landslides. The debris and muck which had come down on the highway during the rainy season is yet to be removed by the Public Works Department, causing inconvenience to commuters.

The condition of the road is pitiable between Thural and Alampur, where large scale landslides can be seen on the road, making it difficult to drive the vehicles. Despite the expiration of seven months, no headway was made to remove the debris from the road.

Despite the fact that there has been a manifold increase in traffic, the width of the highway has been squeezed because of debris piling up on both sides of the highway. The width of the highway is the same as it was 30 years ago. No steps have been taken by the state government to either widen the highway or get it declared a national highway from the Central Government.

With the opening of the Kiratpur-Mandi four-lane road, the distance between Palampur and Chandigarh has been reduced by 65 kilometres if one follows the Palampur- Hamirpur, Ghumarwin- Kiratpur route to reach Chandigarh. Likewise, the travel time has also come down from six hours to four hours.

Sullah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar said despite his repeated requests to the PWD, no steps were taken to remove the boulders and debris from the road. He admitted that the condition of the road has gone from bad to worse in the last six months.

“Keeping in view the high volume of traffic, proposals were submitted to the state government several times to either get it declared a national highway or handover the same to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for four-laning of the road. However, no response has been received from the state government” Parmar added.