Hill Post Himachal industrialists to stage protest over bad condition of Baddi road

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Himachal industrialists to stage protest over bad condition of Baddi road

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August 26, 2008

By: Jagmeet Y. Ghuman

KUMARHATTI: Fed up from the pathetic condition of Baddi- Pinjore road, the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) has planned to lead a resentment rally at Chandigarh tomorrow. Around 100 industrialists under BBNIA will meet Chief Engineer, National Highway Haryana, Secretary, PWD Haryana and Superintendent Engineer, Roads and Surface Ministry to press for improvement of road, stated Mr. Rajinder Guleria, President BBNIA here today.

Guleria said that move was another attempt to apprise those in power about the gravity of problem affecting the industrial activities adversely. The heavy rain has badly affected the condition of road that was re-carpated hardly year ago, rued Guleria. Around 10-km stretch of road has virtually turned into cesspool of water and slush thanks to its poor metalling by the contractor hired by Haryana PWD, he asserted .

He said due to the bad condition of road the chaos was a routine during evening time on road. The motorists mostly daily commuters employed in various units of Nalagarh, Baddi and Barotiwala have to face great hardships while crossing through the road. The long queue of vehicles was noticed at around 6 pm when office goers rush started to flow out of industrial belt. There was complete mess by 8 pm when more vehicles added to chaos.

Now, usually it takes over 3 hours for motorists to reach Pinjore the distance that generally covers in 30- 45 minutes, he quotes. It was a pity that area known as front runner in state industrial development has not even provided with good road facilities, he lamented. Despite 20,000 vehicles plying daily on this road the concerned authorities supposed to improve the condition of road has failed to take any action, he questioned.

The bad stretch of Baddi-Pinjore road falls under the constituency of Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana and most of the commuters on road are residents of Pinjore and Panchkula, he pointed out. It seemed that the road leading to Baddi belt was on the lowest priorities of Haryana whereas the industrialization of this belt has contributed a lot for the economic development of Haryana, he remarked.
As on date all services including conferencing system, food and beverages, tentages etc. were being sourced from Panchkula, Pinjore, Kalka and Chandigarh, he said. The rental, real estates and tourism of these towns have also developed significantly because of industrial development of Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh area, he asserted.

If this attitude of these states continues then the day is not far when the entire infrastructure will be developed in Baddi and people will start going for work from Baddi itself as has happened in Delhi, Gurgaon area where people live in Gurgaon and work in Delhi, he said, adding this will put these states at disadvantageous position.