DEHRADUN: Niti, the last village in Chamoli district bordering China, will be connected to double lane road this year. These days, developmental work of widening the road is in the final stage. Work on cutting hills is being done from Malari to Niti village (17.35 km) and asphalting work is being done at some places.
Officials of the Oasis company, which is engaged in the construction, claimed to have completed the double lane work of the road by October this year. The company’s manager, SP Singh, told, “Nearly 15 kilometers of road surfacing has been completed. The remaining 2.5 kilometers of work will also be completed soon.
This road connects the border area villages of Kailashpur, Farkiya, Banpa, Gamshali, and Niti”. The development of a double-lane road in Niti village aims to alleviate the challenges faced by devotees when visiting the Timmarsain cave to seek blessings from Baba Barfani. Manager Singh told, “
During the New Year, devotees encountered difficulties in accessing Timmarsain Mahadev for darshan, resulting in a temporary suspension of the double-lane road construction for two days.” The expansion project has been successfully completed by excavating rocky terrain from Gamshali to Niti village in the face of challenging geographical conditions. Sources at the construction site revealed, “Currently, widening efforts are focused on the area around Hanuman temple in Kailashpur village, where about 80 metres of hill cutting work is going to take place”.
A total of 51 villages in Uttarakhand, situated along international borders, particularly with China, are set to undergo development as part of the central government’s “Vibrant Village Programme”. These villages have been selected for the initial phase of the program, which will focus on improving road connectivity in the region.
According to the sources, “The central government has identified 2,967 villages across 46 blocks in 19 districts along the northern borders to be developed under the Vibrant Village Programme”. In the first phase, priority has been given to 662 of these villages, including 455 in Arunachal Pradesh, 75 in Himachal Pradesh, 35 in Ladakh, 46 in Sikkim, and 51 border villages in Uttarakhand. The government is particularly focused on improving and enhancing road connectivity from the last village along the country’s border.