Govt urged to construct Chamba-Chowari tunnel

Our Correspondent

Chamba, February 16

The Gramin Welfare Society of Samra in Chamba district has urged the government to construct a tunnel beneath the Jot Pass from Chamba to link the Chowari township from where access to Pathankot and other areas is convenient.

Pathankot is the nearest and the main rail head from where direct trains ply to and from all eastern and southern parts of the country. But Chamba lacks short-distance easy accessibility with the the rest of the country. Easy accessibility is among the key factors for the all-round development of any area.

In a representation to the Chief Minister recently, society general secretary Tarsem Bhardwaj said the Central Government had declared Chamba district, among 115 districts of the country, as an ‘’aspirational district’’ in November 2017 under the New India vision. But the long-pending demand of people for a tunnel between Chamba and Chowari had not met, he said.

Bhardwaj had urged the Chief Minister to start the construction of the tunnel from Chamba to Chowari on priority so that the distance between Chamba and Pathankot and Shimla could be reduced.

“Pathankot is 120 km from the district headquarters of Chamba and it takes around five hours to complete the arduous journey passing through the winding hilly road,” he said.

In case of emergency, patients referred from the Chamba hospital to other hospitals located outside the district sometimes lose their life during the course of the long journey, Bhardwaj said in his representation.

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