Legal and Safety Risks along the Kiratpur-Manali Highway

The newly completed Kiratpur-Manali highway finds itself entangled in a growing web of unauthorized development that threatens the safety of commuters and undermines the integrity of the project. Authorities in Bilaspur district have identified at least 91 unauthorised structures on National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) land, including hotels, liquor shops, and roadside stalls, some located just a metre from the road edge.

These encroachments not only violate the Right of Way (ROW) protections but also pose a serious risk to traffic safety, transforming segments of the highway into potential accident-prone black spots.

The Hon’ble High Court of Himachal Pradesh, while hearing a 2023 public interest litigation, strongly criticized the state’s failure to protect the ROW and declared that such encroachments ‘defeated the entire purpose’ of the four-lane highway project. The Hon’ble High Court of Himachal Pradesh directed the Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur district to submit a status report and barred the grant of electricity and water connections to illegal structures as an interim preventive measure aimed at curbing further consolidation of encroachments.

Central to the controversy is the NHAI’s failure to install Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) boundary pillars with ROW serial numbers and GPS coordinates, as mandated in the original project conditions. This lapse has allowed encroachers to occupy government land with impunity. Moreover, the pillars are crucial not only for demarcation but also for calculating compensation for affected landowners.

In response, the Bilaspur Forest Conservator has written to NHAI, urging urgent installation of boundary pillars at NHAI’s expense, to be verified by the Divisional Forest Officer. Meanwhile, local authorities have been instructed not to issue NOCs for power and water connections without prior NHAI clearance. The Town & Country Planning Department has also directed 18-gram panchayats across key subdivisions to halt any construction lacking official demarcation.

The Kiratpur-Manali highway was intended to be a symbol of modern connectivity in the hills. Instead, it now stands as a sobering reminder of how critical project management elements, like land demarcation and post-completion vigilance, can determine the success or failure of a public infrastructure asset.

The viability and legacy of the Kiratpur-Manali highway project now rest upon the swift and effective enforcement of legal and administrative measures. Without immediate corrective action, the project risks becoming a cautionary tale of how infrastructure ambitions can be undermined by institutional inertia and unchecked encroachment.