Pithoragarh-Tanakpur NH have become a nightmare, to remain closed for another three days
Pithoragarh-Tanakpur NH have become a nightmare, to remain closed for another three days
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Sept 23
Heavy vehicles will not be permitted to play on Pithoragarh-Tanakpur National Highway for next three days from today as debris of landslides continue to accumulate at Swala (Km 106) location from last ten days, paralysing the traffic of trucks and buses on the route, Champawat District Magistrate Navnit Pandey said after an inspection of the road.
“As there is high quantity of loose rock deposited upside of the road and slowly sliding on National Highway, we have closed the road for another three days to give full time to clear the road, for light vehicles the crossing time will be decided after consulting NH officials,” said the DM.
The life line road from Tanakpur to Pithoragarh has remained closed at 10 places after September 13 rains. While the debris from other sensitive places has been removed, the Swala portion of road could not be cleared due to continuous sliding of loose rocks from above the hill.”We have initiated towards finding permanent solution of the problem by constructing a bridge at Swala and for that an experts team of Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) is visiting the site today,” said the Champawat DM.
The work on the Tanakpur-Pithoragarh National Highway initiated in 2016 at a cost of more than a thousand crores of rupees has failed to provide smooth road connectivity to the people of the Kumaon region due to frequent closure of the road due to landslides during monsoon months. The National Highway Authority had hired Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) at a cost of Rs.318 crore to study and suggest remedial measures on the ten problematic areas of the highway but not much success could be achieved as road remained closed for heavy traffic since September 5 this year.
The prices of essential goods as vegetables, fruits, have sky rocketed in Pithoragarh and Champawat due to irregular supply of these goods from Tanakpur and Pilibhit mandis.”The capsicum, that we were selling at Rs 100 a KG before September 13, is being sold at Rs 160 a kg in Pithoragarh town,” said Vir Singh, a vegetable vendor in Pithoragarh town.
Champawat district administration had to rescue and relocate over 400 stranded passengers at various hotels and inns in Champawat district several times when the passengers got stranded due to sudden fall of debris on the road from hills above.”The National Highway (NH) workers are working over 12 to 14 hours to clear the road but continuous shooting of boulders and debris from above could take some more time to clear the road,” said the DM.
The passenger traffic has also been adversely affected as roadway buses of several road transport of neighbouring states and Uttarakhand along with private buses are not plying on the highway. “ The Uttarakhand state Road transport Corporation is incurring losses of approximately Rs. eight lakhs per day due to road closure,” said Ravi Shekhar Kapri, Assistant Regional Manager of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation at Pithoragarh.
