Consultants to study landslides on national highway in HP: BRO

Shimla, May 5 (UNI) The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) today said it was considering a proposal to hire consultants to study and suggest ways to prevent frequent landslides at the 'Khadra Dhank' and 'pagal nallah' (a mountain stream) sections after Nathpa on the Hindustan-Tibet national highway.

''The two-km stretch of the national highway is a major traffic bottleneck with frequent landslides blocking the road. The entire hill strata and also the bankments of the nallah are soft and fragile and the consultant will suggest ways to overcome the problem,'' Chief Engineer of BRO's 'Project Deepak', Brigadier K P Singh, told reporters here.

Mr Singh said the BRO would consider constructing an alternate road if no solution was found to check frequent landslides on the highway.

He claimed that massive excavations for the construction of hydro-power projects were also destabilising the strata and causing landslides at numerous points.

The ''Project Deepak'' was created for the construction of the Hindustan-Tibet national highway in May 1961, he said.

He said the project had made a significant contribution in providing relief to inaccessible areas of the state after natural disasters in the region.

Whether there were floods in the Bhagirathi river in 1978 or heavy snowfall and avalanches in Lahaul and Spiti in 1979, or the Baralacha tragedy in October 1987, the BRO has contributed significantly, he said.

Mr Singh said the project was managing 1,345 km of roads in Uttaranchal and 803.44 km of roads in Himachal Pradesh.

UNI AS DP SI PM1926