Kirthpur- Manali NH-3 likely to cater 20 lakhs vehicular traffic this year: DGP
The construction of four lanes and reduction of the distance between Kirthpur-Manali National Highway No -3 in Himachal Pradesh is likely to increase the volume of traffic by upto 20 lakh vehicles in one year posing a major challenge before the state police to ensure tourist safety and hassle-free traffic. This was stated by the Director General of Himachal Pradesh Police Mr Sanjay Kundu while addressing a press conference on Friday.
DGP said that opening up of the vehicular traffic on the Kirthpur-Manali four-lane recorded 12.74 lakh vehicles in 2022 which is likely to increase upto 20 lakh by this year and 30 lakh in 2024 as this four-lane would be fully commissioned. He said that the State government decided to open three new police stations in Bilaspur, Mandi, and Kullu to manage the flow of vehicles and ensure hassle-free journeys for the people.
He said that the entire highway spread over 189 km and it would reduce the total distance by 45 km after coming up with 18 two ways tunnels. He said that work on the Sundernagar bypass and a bypass tunnel at Pandoh would further reduce the journey of tourists on this highway. He said that additional force would be deployed in the Kulu and Lahaul Spiti districts as sometimes vehicles get struck in jams up to one-kilometer starches. He said that efforts are being done to ensure the marked pedestrian path in the major towns and rural areas so that people while crossing and moving along the four lanes could walk safely.
He said that new safety, traffic warning, CCTV cameras, Doppler radar, and meteorological equipment would be installed so that people could no information in advance. He said that due to the large volume of traffic on the highway is challenging for the state police to ensure smooth traffic and three police stations are being set up along the NH-3 to ensure hassle-free travel to the tourists and traffic on the four lanes. He said that the entire Four Lanes have a crash barrier and the number of road accidents due to the falling down of vehicles in the rivers and gorges could be reduced substantially.
He said that the World Bank has funded Rs 54 Crore to the state government to repair the blind spots. He said that it was found that 23 p c death occurred due to blind spots in the state, and 19 percent due to hitting people. He said that efforts are being done to tackle the movements of animals along the four lanes in the villages as a large number of animals especially cows cross the four lanes.
He said that it is highly challenging for the police to control the traffic on the highway and all the SPs and police stations are being coordinated to ensure the safe movement of vehicles. DGP said that the movement of people especially Shepard along with their livestock on the highway and in the Atal Tunnel may disrupt the vehicular traffic for hours and efforts are being done to make an alternate system to ensure that traffic did not disrupt for a long time. He said that the opening of the Rohtang Tunnel also increased the vehicular traffic on the highway and it is not an easy task to deploy so much force on the entire highway to maintain the traffic. He said that the government has been asked to fill up about 1259 vacant posts in the police department and ensure the light vehicles for the traffic wings so that they could petrol on the highway to ensure the smooth running of traffic and violation of traffic rules by the people.
He said that increasing the speed limits and instances of overspeeding could be a challenge required to promote traffic management for which state government and police departments are working to improve the bottleneck. He said that some of the buildings along the NH may be demolished as it is disrupting the clear view of the road due to the curved highway. DGP said that nine ambulances are being linked with different Trauma centers to ensure the safety of people during accidents and new Trauma centers are to be linked with the 108 ambulances to deal with any eventuality.
He said that state police are following the road safety norms of New York police which is known as the best policing system in the world. He said that the world bank funding the state police to provide safety apparatus and remove bottlenecks and blind spots. He said that number of road accidents is coming down with two-lane roads between Kirthpur to Manali and efficient management of traffic.
He said that state police have to shoulder the double responsibility of ensuring the VVIP visit and deployment of force to ensure traffic as Kullu Manali and Shimla are frequently visited by a number of dignitaries required the augmentation of its services and equipment. He said that the state is in touch with NHAI to ensure the safety of people traveling on the highway and pedestrians which is highly challenging in the towns where people and tourists park a vehicle on both sides of the highway. The Police are in touch with the administration and NHAI to ensure that no vehicle gets parked on the four lanes and there should be alternate for tourists to remain away from the busy road so that traffic runs smoothly.
