Landslide holds up traffic on Manali-Chandigarh highway for 3 hours

MANALI: A massive landslide at Seobagh area of Kullu blocked Chandigarh-Manali national highway for nearly three hours on Friday. Work for widening of Kullu-Manali highway, which involved sharp cutting of mountain faces, has created new sliding points where debris keeps sliding on the busy road.
Such is the frequency that rolling boulders hitting vehicles do not surprise people here anymore. Nevertheless, they live in persistent fear of heavy rain or snowfall triggering a collapse which can lead to casualties. Meanwhile, commuters, who are at the receiving end, say the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) should cut the steep mountains in a scientific manner and protect them by building breast walls.

Sachin Sharma, who commutes daily between Kullu and Manali, said boulders keep rolling down on the road. "Sometimes, it takes up to 3 hours to cover a distance of 40 kms. Frequent traffic jams due to landslides and ongoing road widening work is irritating both local commuters and tourists. The dust flying everywhere is leading to health issues," he said.

There are patches along the stretch where the NHAI is reclaiming land from the Beas river to widen the highway. This is shrinking the Beas, which is notorious for devastating floods during the monsoon season. There are dozens of villages on the Beas banks, but they are located at a higher level. With the excavation of land, these villages are now exposed to the vagaries of the Beas.

Beas Dev, a resident of 18 Mile village near Manali, grumbles that the road widening work has laid the entire village, including the senior secondary school and government buildings, bare to flooding. "For them (authorities), the only factor for consideration is the highway, not human lives. Are their engineers and our local officials illiterate that they cannot see what the road work has done? They excavated the area beyond village which has been protecting us from floods for years. The NHAI has flattened it, and there is no protection from flood anymore. Who will be responsible if the entire village is destroyed by flood?" he said.

Kullu deputy commissioner Yunus has directed highway authorities to speed up work but take adequate care of the convenience of commuters. He has directed them to keep spraying water to control dust and work in a manner that traffic is not disturbed.