DEHRADUN, Oct. 3, 2022 (TBINN)
The 150-kilometre Tanakpur-Pithoragarh stretch of All-Weather Road Project, owing to frequent and prolonged disruptions during Monsoon, has not been able to achieve its basic objective of providing uninterrupted connectivity to the India-China borders and smooth transportation of defence supplies.
The stretch which is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious All-Weather Road Project for Uttarakhand was closed more than 300 times due to land-slides during Monsoon over the past two years, officials said.
The stretch along N.H.-9 remained closed for 350 hours in 55 days in 2022 and 545 hours in 110 days in 2021, Champawat’s District Disaster Management Officer, Manoj Pandey said.
The portion of road in Pithoragarh has been blocked since Tuesday, Pithoragarh D.D.M.O. B.S. Mahar said. The stretch has been blocked many times this Monsoon, he added. The road could be of an all-weather nature only after the land-slide-sensitive points are treated and a 167-metre-long bridge at Chalthi gets completed, Executive Engineer Sunil Kumar, In-Charge of this part of the project, said.
Notably, All-Weather Road Project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 to improve the condition of road infrastructure in border areas, provide Chaar Dham pilgrims a round-the-year access to the four Himalayan temples and boost tourism activities in the hill state.
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