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States » NorthPosted at: Apr 30 2025 11:00AM


After decades, no motorable road to Kinnaur gateway panchayat

Reckongpeo (Kinnaur/Himachal Pradesh), Apr 29 (UNI) After 75 years of independence, not a single inch of motorable road has been constructed in the Choura panchayat, located at the gateway to Himachal Pradesh’s tribal district of Kinnaur.
Ironically, the historic Hindustan-Tibet Road, built during the British rule, is now under threat of destruction as pipelines are being laid and water chambers constructed along its route.
Locals lament that while post-independence governments failed to provide road connectivity, what the British had built is also being snatched away.
Villages such as Kafoor, Shilani, Choura, Upper Choura, Saudaar, Monyat, and Kaipri within the Choura Panchayat had once hoped to benefit from their strategic location.
Being the first panchayat of the tribal district, residents expected a wave of development. However, eight decades later, the entire panchayat remains disconnected from motorable roads, forcing its people to live in a pathetic condition.
Rama Nand, a retired soldier from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and resident of Kafoor, says that due to the lack of road connectivity, all income from apple orchards is spent on transportation via porters and mules.
He emphasized that the pre-Independence Hindustan-Tibet Road, once used during the 1962 India-China war and for Indo-Tibet trade, is now being destroyed by the Jal Shakti Department in the name of pipeline work. He urged the government to preserve this historic route if it cannot build new ones.
Tikam Singh Negi, a retired BSF Commandant from Shilani village, echoed similar concerns. He said that reaching home on foot from the nearest road has become increasingly difficult with age.
Bhagwan Das from Shilani shared that his home is located along the old Hindustan-Tibet Road, and it takes over an hour on foot to reach from the nearest motorable road. As a result, the transportation of cash crops becomes so expensive that it eats up their entire earnings.
At times, the lack of available labour means apples rotting in the orchards. He noted that in 2020, a process was initiated to construct a motorable road up to the historic road, but political rivalry between contractors from Congress and BJP left the work incomplete.
Meanwhile, the Choura Panchayat's Gram Sabha has raised serious concerns over the destruction of the old Hindustan-Tibet Road for pipeline installation. Local women leaders, including Sundhi Mahila Mandal president from Choura and Chandra Kala from Shilani, stated that the Sabha has demanded a vigilance inquiry into the poor-quality work and misuse of funds to curb corruption.
With no sign of road development in sight, the residents of Choura Panchayat have begun to lose hope. Many elderly villagers have given up on the dream of ever seeing a motorable road in their lifetime. Locals question how, while other regions have been blanketed with road networks even reaching remote ridgelines, the very entry point of Kinnaur district has been left abandoned.
UNI ML PRS
Tags: #After decades# no motorable road to Kinnaur gateway panchayat
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