Palampur, August 23
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) has decided to suspend its all night service on the Pathankot-Mandi national Highway with immediate effect, keeping in view heavy rains in the region and sliding of hills.
A senior government officer said here today that the highway had been hit by landslides between Jogindernagar and Mandi. To avoid any mishap, the HRTC had decided to suspend its night buses during monsoon on this route.
He said an HRTC bus carrying 46 passengers was buried when a part of hill caved in at Kotrupi near Mandi earlier in August 2017. At present the traffic had been diverted through rural roads.
The highway has been hit by heavy landslides at 40 other places where there was regular sliding of hills, he said. The day bus service would continue.
A team of engineers and experts of the NHAI along with heavy machinery had already reached Kotrupi to maintain the 250-meter stretch of the highway which had disappeared in the recent rains.
The 219-km Pathankot-Mandi highway is one of strategic road projects of the government of India which links Pathankot with Leh, Ladakh and other forward areas.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service