Shimla/Kalka: Three days of traffic chaos or three years of broken promises — the Chakki Moor sliding point on the Shimla-Kalka Fourlane National Highway has become a nightmare for thousands of commuters, farmers, and tourists.
Despite repeated assurances, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has failed to fix the 200-metre stretch, which remains a single-lane bottleneck prone to stone and debris slides every time it rains.
The situation has turned grim with Northern Railway suspending operations of the twilight service on the UNESCO heritage Shimla-Kalka track till September 5, citing continuing heavy rains.
The twin blow — a crippled road and a suspended train line — has virtually cut off smooth connectivity for the hill state’s lifeline route.
At Chakki Morh, every spell of rain sends stones and muck crashing onto the road, blocking traffic for hours.
Jams snake back to Jabli and Dharampur, turning daily travel into an ordeal.
Farmers ferrying perishable produce to mandis suffer heavy losses as trucks and pick-ups remain stranded.
Tourists too are trapped in the mess, stuck for hours in serpentine queues with no alternative route.
Four years on, the Chakki Moor sliding point has become an engineering puzzle NHAI has failed to crack.
Experts have warned that temporary patchworks won’t work, but the highway authority has dragged its feet on finding a permanent stabilization plan.
Meanwhile, commuters bear the brunt of mismanagement.
“This is not just a roadblock, it’s a lifeline block,” said a local farmer stuck in a jam for over three hours.
“Our apples and vegetables rot in heat before they reach the market. Who will compensate for our losses?”
The continuing traffic snarls and the suspension of the train service have exposed how fragile Himachal’s connectivity remains.
For now, Chakki Morh is a symbol of both engineering failure and administrative apathy — a daily reminder of how development can grind to a halt on a single slippery stretch.
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