Kullu-Manali highway became a death trap for travelers

The recently built double-laned Kullu-Manali National Highway (NH-3) has become a death trap for commuters with many fatal accidents reported here.

Around 72 road accidents have taken place in the past year under the Kullu police station and of these, 55 accidents took place on the national highway. The speed of vehicles is becoming the major cause of accidents. Though the police are keeping an eye through ITMS cameras and penalising the violators, but some people are undeterred and risk their lives as well as those of others.

Atul, a resident, said only the 40-km-long Kullu-Manali NH would be double-laned on the entire Kiratpur-Manali route, which is strategically very important. He said now many spots on the stretch had become death traps for commuters.

He said overspeeding and rash driving were major causes of most of the accidents. There were technical flaws at Mahadevi Teerath, Bashing, Bandrol, Dwara, Patlikul and Kalath, which have become accident-prone spots.

Residents of Kullu-Manali said the 44-km-long left bank road should be double-laned on priority. Vehicles coming to Kullu from Manali could be diverted through the left bank after the widening of the road so that traffic volume on the right bank of the NH could be reduced. They said allowing one-way traffic would also assist in reducing road mishaps. This would also boost the economy of the left bank areas. The road connects many villages and widening it would benefit a large number of agriculturists and residents. The road also becomes an alternate route in case the Kullu-Manali National Highway is blocked.

At present, the narrow left bank road has many bottlenecks and heavy vehicles avoid traversing this road. The condition of the road is not good at many places. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently took over the work of double-laning the Kullu-Naggar-Manali left bank road and it has entrusted the job of preparation of DPR of this 38-km-long stretch to consultants.

Kullu Additional Superintendent of Police Ashish Sharma said, “The police make people aware of road safety through various means. People are being advised not to drive at high speed. We are also issuing challans to the violators. Action will be taken against those who violate the traffic rules.”