Vehicular movement on Tanakpur-Pithoragarh stretch to remain suspended for 3 days

Vehicular movement on the150-km Tanakpur-Pithoragarh stretch will remain suspended from July 11 to 14due to expansion work being done on a 130-metre-long section near Ghat Bridge, an official said Wednesday.

The movement of vehicles on the stretch will cease at 9 am on Thursday and will resume at the same time on July14, Pithoragarh District Magistrate V K Jogdande said.

"The vehicles will be diverted from Thal and due to the diversion, all the passengers using the route from Pithoragarh town to Haldwani, Almora, Tanakpur, Champawat and Lohaghat, will have to traverse an additional distance of 120 km to reach their destinations," he said.

Admitting that it will cause some inconvenience to people, Executive Engineer LD Mathela said keeping the stretch absolutely free of vehicular movement was necessary for safety reasons.

"Keeping in mind the height of the rocks to be cut and the heavy machines to be used for the purpose we needed to have the road completely empty as we did not want to risk lives," he said.

Over 5,000 passengers use the route daily, which is considered the lifeline of the border district linking it to the nearest railway stations of Haldwaniand Tanakpur.