Manali: Kullu Manali left bank road is in rundown condition, filled with potholes, appear to be becoming a distinguishing feature of rural areas. Potholes, which pepper the roads, regularly cause severe traffic, accidents, and disruptions.
Commuters and vehicle drivers told Hill Post that woes on the roads were nothing new but students, office goers, and patients, in particular suffered the most.
Locals blamed public representatives and contractors for the situation but a parliamentarian faulted the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) that is PWD.
It is estimated that dilapidated roads, covering some 50 kilometres, stretch across Kullu Manali. At least 20 newly-built or repaired roads in rural areas had been damaged within a year, with carpeting on most of them wearing off.
LGED repaired 40km road in 2017-18 fiscal year with 40lac. For the current fiscal, the government approved one core for works on 70km road, including repair of 50 km.
Locals identified corruption and irregularities as key reasons for the sorry state of the roads. They accused the contractors of using low-quality materials during repairs, which left the roads vulnerable to damage.
Vikramjeet Thakur, a resident of left bank Manali blamed the concerned authorities for the bad road conditions. “Supervising the repair work and taking care of the roads is the responsibility of the concerned department. The roads are not properly repaired because of their negligence,” he claimed.
Pawan Rana SDO Manali while speaking to Hill Post said, “we spent Rs 40 lac last year on tiring from Naggar to Manali, a 25 Km road stretch. He added that this year we have a budget of Rs 1 crore for tarring and maintenance of Manali Nagger road of 45 Kms length. He said the repair work of Manali Nagger road will start as soon as the weather permits.
Sanjay Dutta, an engineer by qualification but is a journalist by choice.
He has worked for the premier new agency Press Trust of India and leading English daily Indian Express.
With more than a decade of experience, he has been highlighting issues related to environment, tourism and other aspects affecting mountain ecology.
Sanjay Dutta lives in a village close to Manali in Kullu valley of Himachal.
Nothing much has changed over two decades,As far as the condition of roads is concerned,the vehicular traffic has increased,the maintenance becomes little difficult when the roads and bridges are over used .Govt does not have more budgets,and if there is enough budget,it is not properly used.Himalayas is facing a serious environment threat.
Excellent report..
Mr Dutta
Ur phone no
My no 9318933044
It’s a shame that neither Tourism ministry nor HP Government invest in infrastructure to promote SAFE tourism.One can see hundreds of smashed cars on either side of the road and yet taxis drive recklessly on narrow stretches of the road.Despite warnings, cars drive on pedestrian bridges over the rivers putting at risk hundreds of lives.Shimla looks like a concrete jungle while Manali is a shade better. The horse / pony trek is chaotic in slushy mud tracks.The tekedars at Shimla / Snow point we’re all exploitative, each charging at his whim and saying you don’t have to pay the guy at the next point.Same story when you reach the next point. Regulators are conspicuous by their absence. High time our Tourism ministers did something useful to make domestic tourism a safe and enjoyable experience.No point in wasting funds on putting up the Incredible India banners!