Manali-Kaza road still closed for buses, 4-km stretch to blame

The Manali-Kaza road is yet to be reopened for bigger vehicles this summer, with some officials blaming "confusion" between two Border Roads Organisation (BRO) units over which one of them is in charge of maintaining a four-kilometre stretch.

However, Brig D K Tyagi, Chief Engineer of BRO's Project Deepak, rejected the suggestion.

He said the repair work is on and the stretch will be made usable for all vehicles in the next few days.

But a recent visit to the spot had indicated that no work was then going on there. No bus has run this season on the Manali-Kaza route -- which remains closed most of the year due to snowfall and landslides creating problems for tourists and the 16,000 residents of remote Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh.

An alternative road to Kaza in Spiti Valley remains open from Shimla, but it is much longer than the way from Manali.

The 170-km stretch from Samdo to a few kilometres beyond Batal on the Manali-Kaza road is supposed to fall under the jurisdiction of the BRO's 108 Road Construction Company (RCC).

The road from Chhota Dara to Gramphu is maintained by the 94 RCC.

The apparent row was over the short four-km stretch between Batal and a point near Chhota Dara.

A visit to the area recently indicated that none of the two BRO units were working on repairing the road.

Two "nullahs" flow over this stretch, which is also prone to frequent landslides.

Without maintenance, heavy vehicles cannot pass through this stretch.

However, cars and two-wheelers continue to negotiate it.

When contacted recently, C R Meena, Officer Commanding, 108 Road Construction Company of the BRO, said, "We have already put up a board after measuring 170-km-long road from Samdo, which falls under our jurisdiction."
When contacted a few days earlier, Brig Tyagi, Chief Engineer of BRO's Project Deepak, said, "I was not aware of the issue. I will instruct both the RCCs heads to resolve the issue at the earliest."