Title - Rail, air link to Chamba demanded

Chamba: For the past over two decades, the people of Chamba region have been demanding the construction of a railway line from Pathankot to Chamba, alongside the river Ravi, an airport and taking over of the Pathankot-Chamba-Killar-Leh highway as a national highway.The highway also connects the Dalhousie-Chamba tourist circuit in Chamba district, besides medical and engineering institutions.The issue of the absence of a national highway, railway and air link to the district, from the outer world since Independence, may matter in the next Lok Sabha elections slated for 2014.Chamba is contributing Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer annually by commissioning four prestigious hydropower projects 540 MW Chamera-I, 300 MW Chamera-II, 231 MW Chamera-III and 198 MW Baira Siul and is producing 1,269 MW power, which no other district contributes.But in lieu of this, Chamba is getting little and the genuine share of this benefit is not being given to the district, the people feel.Besides the highway, the people have also been demanding a railway line from Pathankot, the nearest railhead to Chamba, linking Dalhousie hill station too. The air link is also required to boost tourism in the exquisite green hills of this mountainous region.The proposal to construct an airport at Banikhet, near Dalhousie, was drawn way back in 1994 and the government was ready to undertake the construction work on the proposal. But the union government did not accord clearance to the proposal due to some ‘environment reasons’ and so the scheme did not succeed.

The Chamba Welfare Association, a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO), has already put forth a proposal to link Dalhousie and Chamba hill resorts with a railway line, from Pathankot, from the tourism point of view, to the Union Government some time ago.