Chamba-Killar highway to open in December 2008

Dharamsala Aug 23 (UNI) One of the most treacherous roads of Himachal Pradesh, the 170 Km long Chamba-Killar state highway passing through 14,500 feet Saach Pass above sea level, is likely to be opened for medium vehicles before December, 2008.

An official spokesman said cutting, formation, widening and improvement of the 21 Km long jeepable stretch between Bhagotu-Chandrabhaga bridge at Sukrali was in progress.

More than 300 workers were busy for over 10 hours daily on this highway to fulfill the 50 years long cherished dream of the tribal populace of the Pangi Valley, he said.

He said the jeepable road between Bhagotu-Killar is one of the most hazardous and arduous road stretches of the hilly state because of the extremely hard rock strata and sharp gradients.

He said the construction work on this road had begun wayback in 1962 and according to a rough estimate more than Rs 50 crores have been spent on the construction, improvement and maintenance of this road from Chamba to Killar so far.

Last year in July, the bus service was inaugurated between Barragarh-Bhagotu. However, with the sudden heavy snowfall on Saach Pass the bus service had to be discontinued, he said.

He said this year the road was opened by the PWD department after clearing the heavy snow and glaciers from both sides from Bhagotu towards Saach Pass and from Satrundi to Saach Pass and it was opened for the vehicular traffic on June 26. The bus service between Chamba-Bhagotu was introduced from June 30, he added.

UNI