Baddi-Nalagarh road a nightmare for commuters

Conceived to ease traffic influx, the 17-km stretch of the Baddi-Nalagarh national highway has become risky for commuters ever since the work to widen it to four lanes began in 2022. The project is marred by engineering inadequacies and slow pace and the monsoon has aggravated the situation as the road surface gets inundated with slush each time it rains.

Motorists struggle to wade through the slush-ridden road; cases of emergency vehicles like ambulances getting stuck every now and then have been reported. The road looks like a stream due to inadequate seepage facilities.

Farmers, too, have been reporting damage to their crops as slushy water enters their fields at places like Bhud, Kharuni, Kishenpura, etc due to a lack of seepage channels.

The poor condition of the under-construction service lane flushed with slush has made driving tough and risky even for heavy vehicles carrying industrial goods. At places like Bhud, traffic light chowk at Baddi, Malpur, etc, are glaring illustrations of this.

“To ease the plight of commuters, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon begin laying paver blocks in a 3,000 sq mt area from the Baddi chowk to Bhud on the service lane where water accumulates. Recently, a Rs 5 crore project was awarded for undertaking safety and maintenance work to ease various problems,” said Anand Dahiya, Project Director, NHAI, Shimla.

Mahinder, a local resident, said, “Shoddy service roads, which connect the link roads emanating from several villages, are yet to be connected to the highway. This has increased the peril of villagers, who struggle to reach the highway using arterial paths. A large chunk of the industrial workforce commute from these villages.”

This road is used by tourists travelling from Chandigarh to Kullu, Manali, Rohtang, etc, besides by the industries to transport goods. However, the sloppy work being done on the road leads to vehicles stranded for nearly two hours much to the discomfort of the commuters.

Himachal Tribune