Ahead of the apple season, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed serious concern over the closure of the National Highway (NH5) near Theog, in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, due to landslides.

The party has demanded the state government to take up the repair work of this road on a war footing and restore it immediately.

“For this, the state government should immediately get the Bailey Bridge constructed in Theog with the help of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) and Central Government. Along with this, additional resources should be made available for the construction of the barrage,” demanded Communist Party of India (Marxist) Shimla district Secretary Sanjay Chauhan.

This national highway not only serves to connect the interior parts of Shimla, Kinnaur, Kullu and Mandi districts, but it is also very important from the strategic point of view as it is the only road connecting the border areas, he added.

Due to this traffic has been affected in Theog, Rampur, Chaupal, Kotkhai, Jubbal, and Rohru in Shimla district as well as in Nirmand, Aani and other areas of Kinnaur district and Kullu districts.

“Today the fruit season has started in these areas and apple harvesting will also start in 20-25 days in low-altitude areas. If the road is not restored soon it will affect the traffic system during the apple season and due to this, the orchardist will not be able to transport their apple produce to the markets and will be forced to bear huge economic losses,” he added.

The party has demanded that the Theog bypass, which has been under construction for many years, should be expedited and the remaining construction work should be completed by the month of August so that it can be used as an alternative route for the transportation of apples during the apple season.

The state government should provide the necessary resources to expedite the construction of the Theog bypass and complete this long pending work, he asserted.

“The government should take appropriate steps to streamline traffic on the other alternative routes to avoid traffic jams. For this, the government should set up a committee under the supervision of a responsible senior officer, who, in coordination with all the concerned departments, should execute these works in the right direction,” he demanded.

Along with this, additional police force should be arranged to run the traffic system smoothly on these alternative link routes, he said. The CPM also appealed to the public to cooperate so as to run this alternative traffic system smoothly.