Apple transportation hit as Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru road blocked due to landslides

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 16

There were long queues of apple-laden trucks on the Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru and the Kharapathar-Tao-Kotkhai roads as they were blocked following landslides at Patti Dhank.

The blockade has brought apple transporation to a grinding halt since Wednesday afternoon. Orchardists are suffering losses as the apple packed in cartons is rotting on roadsides owing to the heat, said Naresh Chauhan, an orchardist from Jubbal who got stuck in the traffic jam for eight hours on Wednesday before he took another route.

Though emergency vehicles and bus service have been diverted from Kharapathar via Tao there are long traffic jams on this road.

Apple farmers are worried as the road will not be functional for two more days as the PWD does not have enough machines. There are long traffic jams on the Kharapathar-Tao-Kotkhai road since Wednesday bringing public transport to a halt.  

There is no trace of the road as the entire hillock collapsed on the road.

“The stranded commuters have no option but to go back on foot to Kharapathar,” said Chauhan.

PWD executive engineer Rajesh Jaswal said they had deployed machines from both sides to clear the road for one-way movement by Thursday. The landside is massive as the entire hillock collapsed and it will take time to clear the big boulders and debris, he added.

Landslides have also blocked the road at Nihari near Kotkhai on the highway, 80 km from here, as the PWD is yet to complete the work on widening the road.

The Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru road is the lifeline of the apple belt. Other link roads--Dopti-Pabaas and Lastadhar-Pabaas-Kenchi--also remained blocked.