Uphill road to recovery

IT’s been two months since the monsoon rain began unleashing its fury on Himachal Pradesh. Raging rivers, along with landslides and land subsidence, ravaged infrastructure across the state. Tens of thousands of people are still struggling to pick up the pieces as the crumbled roads, bridges, homes and other buildings have affected their lives and livelihoods. Both agriculture and tourism, the mainstays of Himachal, have been hit hard by the snapping of road connectivity. Dirt tracks or long detours are the alternatives available for the transportation of agricultural produce, including apples. In some remote rural parts, fruits and vegetables are rotting or the farmers are incurring heavy expenses to transport these using labourers or mules.

The sunken roads and washed-away highways tell the unfortunate tale of a system that has allowed constructions in the fragile hills by ignoring scientific rigour. Mountains have been cut indiscriminately and the retaining walls of roads are not strong enough. The Landslide Hazard Risk Assessment-2015, undertaken by a think tank, had warned of the threat and high landslide vulnerability faced by 60 per cent of HP’s road network.

While the state government has estimated the losses caused to be over Rs 10,000 crore, the caved-in and damaged roads and bridges alone account for nearly one-third of the total figure. The number of roads swept away, leaving the affected areas cut off, is staggering. Sample this: The four-lane Chandigarh-Manali highway — the lifeline of Kullu, Manali and Lahaul & Spiti — is in a pathetic condition, reduced to a village link road at some places. Around 160 roads still remain closed across the state. It will be some time before the repair work is finished. Hopefully, the mistakes will not be repeated and care will be taken to build stable and ecologically sustainable structures.