Char Dham Connected, But a Puliya Disconnects Kotdwar – The Invisible Crisis
Recently, while returning from my ancestral village Thepgaon in Nainidanda block, I was stranded in a six-hour-long traffic jam. The culprit? A tiny, unassuming puliya masquerading as a bridge on the Nazimabad–Kotdwar highway – washed away yet again.
This isn’t just a minor disruption. Kotdwar, like Rishikesh, is a lifeline – a gateway to the Garhwal hills. Without this route, men, material, and essential services cannot move efficiently into the hills. And yet, this critical connector – repaired, patched, and repeatedly neglected – finally gave way, causing untold misery to thousands of commuters on both sides.
What’s truly disheartening is the complete media silence on this issue. Not a headline. Not a prime-time debate. Compare this to Delhi – where even the smallest inconvenience, like a traffic snarl or air pollution spike, becomes national news.
Every year, we hear about parali (stubble) burning in Punjab affecting the lungs of Delhi, as though the air magically bypasses all other states. Come November, Delhi’s pollution is everyone’s crisis. Come monsoon, Delhi’s waterlogging is a national calamity. And let’s not forget – free electricity, free water, free metro rides, free medicals – all coming from a pool of resources to which every Indian contributes. But where are these services in the hills?
Why does the collapse of a vital puliya connecting Kotdwar to the rest of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh not matter?
This neglect raises deeper questions for policymakers in Uttarakhand. Are we so consumed by big-ticket infrastructure projects – the Char Dham all-weather road, ropeways, and highways – that we ignore micro-level pain points that directly affect daily life?
Where are the Political stake holders? Why has this puliya – so strategically important – not been turned into a proper two-lane bridge over all these years?
The solution is simple but requires will: a culture of preventive maintenance, regular inspection, and public accountability. From the Gram Pradhan to the MP level, this must be institutionalized. Reactive activism after disaster strikes will take us nowhere.
It’s time to ask:
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- Why are the problems of small towns and hill states not seen as national problems?
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- Will Delhi-centric narratives always dominate at the cost of real issues in rural India?
Let’s demand that every puliya that connects people is treated with the same seriousness as every flyover in a metro city.
The hills deserve better.
Uttarakhand deserves better
