Chhaila-Giripul road in Shimla district a dust bowl

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 26

From the dust cloud blown up by a passing truck emerged a motorcycle. The rider barely had his eye open when he saw a hand waving at him, urging him to stop. “How is the road ahead?” he is asked. “The best you will ever drive on,” he said sarcastically, following it up with a long rant, interspersed with some heavy expletives.

“Excuse me for the words but you can’t expect any better from a person who has his mouth and eyes full of dust,” he said, shaking himself vigorously to throw off layers of dust from his clothes.

It’s not merely the dust, the commuters on the Chhaila-Giripul road (in district Shimla and Sirmour) have to deal with. The road is quite narrow at places, the metalling is gone totally or partially for kms on end at various places, parapets and crash barriers are rare even though a small slip would see the vehicles tumbling down into the deep khud running parallel to the road. “This road has been bad for as long as I remember, just the extent varies,” said the disgusted rider.

The road offers an alternative and shorter route to Solan and Chandigarh than via Shimla for several upper Shimla area residents and is extremely important for transporting apple and vegetables. “If the road is well maintained, it will ease so much pressure on the road to Shimla and beyond. Also, frequent traffic jams during the apple season, too, will reduce significantly,” said Kanwar Harnam Singh, pradhan of Balag panchayat.

Right now, though, the condition of the road is driving people crazy, especially those residing along close by. “There’s so much dust that people are getting sick, their crops are getting damaged,” said Singh. Besides, the roadside dhabas and small shops, too, are feeling the pinch. “Every time a vehicle passes by, the dust leaves us almost choked. Who would want to sit and eat here,” said a roadside dhana owner in Balag.

The ride is particularly tough for truckers. Loaded to capacity, they find driving on the road challenging and damaging for the vehicle. “It’s not easy to drive on this road. Trucks break down often, leading to long jams. And if you are not lucky, you could easily roll down into the khud in case of tyre burst or if any other sudden mechanical fault or human error occurs,” said Ankit Sharma, who has been using this road for the past four years.

The smaller vehicles, too, don’t enjoy a smooth ride. “Just last month, a car rolled down the khud near Maipul. Three people died on the spot, while the fourth had a miraculous escape. If there had been crash barriers, those people would not have died,” said Rajender Sharma, pradhan, Sainj panchayat.

“Actually, we have never seen satisfactory work done on this road. Once in a while, the road is metalled but it doesn’t last long. The maintenance has always been very poor,” he said. Amidst this gloom and pessimism, the good news is that the government has allotted the work for refurbishing this road. “The contractor started work last month. It’s a five-year repair and maintenance contract. The work will include metalling, constructing parapets, drains and retaining walls,” said a PWD official.

Quite Narrow, no metalling at various places

It’s not merely the dust that the commuters on the Chhaila-Giripul road (in districts Shimla and Sirmaur) have to deal with, the road is quite narrow at places, the metalling is gone totally or partially for kms at various places, parapets and crash barriers are rare even though a small slip would see the vehicles tumbling down into the deep khud running along the road.