Kinnaur, Bisheshar Negi,
Despite 75 years of independence, not a single inch of motorable road has been constructed in the Chaura Panchayat, located at the gateway to Himachal Pradesh’s tribal district of Kinnaur. Ironically, the historic Hindustan-Tibet Road, built during 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 Kafour, Shilani, Chaura, Upper Chaura, Saundar, 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 to flow their way. However, eight decades later, the entire panchayat remains disconnected from motorable roads, forcing its people to live in conditions akin to bonded laborers due to the absence of basic infrastructure.Rama Nand, a retired soldier from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and resident of Kafour, 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 Indo-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 at least preserve this historic route if it cannot build new ones.
“Retired BSF Commandant Tikam Singh Negi from Shalani village honored with the Meritorious Service Medal by the President of India”echoed similar concerns. He stated that reaching home on foot from the nearest road has become increasingly difficult with age. He never imagined that after defending the nation at the borders, returning home would one day become such a hardship.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, a lack of available labor means apples rot 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 has left the work incomplete.Meanwhile, the Chaura Panchayat’s Gram Sabha has raised serious concerns over the destruction of the old Hindustan-Tibet Road for pipeline installation. Local women leaders, including Sundehi Mahila mandal president from Chaura 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 Chaura 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 kanda, the very entry point of Kinnaur district has been left abandoned. Their voices highlight a damning indictment of government planning and political will.
