Potholed Nurpur road stretch a nightmare for commuters

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, March 18

The three-kilometre potholed stretch from Sahadraman to Harnora Ghat on the Nurpur-Chamba major district road has become accident prone, especially for two-wheeler riders.

As per information, the state Public Works Department (PWD) has not carried out any repair of this damaged road in the past three years.

The increasing traffic of heavy loaded and double-axle vehicles has resulted in damage to this road and created potholes. Commuters face a tough time while plying vehicles on this road stretch, particularly at night. A number of two-wheeler riders have met with accidents here.

Shekhar Pathania, a regular commuter and a resident of Harnora Ghat, lamented that the Nurpur-Chamba road had been constructed with 20 mm road soling which was meant for vehicles with nine tons of load capacity. However, now this road was being used by double-axle vehicles with load capacity of 40 tons resulting in potholes on this road, he added.

Subhash Singh, pradhan of Hatli gram panchayat, Pawan, pradhan of Sadwan panchayat, and Hardeep Deepu, a Zila Parishad member, have demanded that the road should be repaired keeping in view the increased volume of traffic. They said the chances of mishaps always remained high due to potholes on the stretch from Sahdraman to Harnora Ghat.

IS Rana, Executive Engineer, Nurpur division, PWD, while admitting the rise in traffic of heavy vehicles on the Nurpur-Chamba road, said the department had planned to repair the stretch shortly at the beginning of summer.