Nainital: Around half of the 25-meter long area of lower Mall Road of Nainital town collapsed on Saturday, after which traffic was diverted to upper Mall Road. Earlier, during summer, the lower Mall area had been damaged due to an overload of vehicles and repair works were underway on the stretch.Officials from the district administration, who rushed to the spot for inspection, told TOI that efforts to rebuild the portion will be made soon. Harveer Singh, additional district magistrate, Nainital said, “We inspected the part where the damage occurred. A team has been constituted, which includes people from various departments including Public Works, Irrigation and the City Municipality, to repair the road in a way that such an incident never occurs again.”Meanwhile, residents attributed the collapse to unregulated traffic in the lake town and no steps being taken to arrest the problem when it first arose during the summers. Alok Sah, a resident of the town said, “This part of the lower Mall Road has always been weak and has broken down earlier too. It should have been repaired when the water levels were low.”The Uttarakhand high court had also taken notice of the issue in May this year, inquiring what was being done to fix the Mall Road. In response, district officials had then submitted that a survey was commissioned to identify the reasons behind the breakdowns and fix the problems.An IIT Roorkee report had pointed out that the part of the road had grown weak, after which the Public Works Department (PWD) had started repair work in phases. Mahendra Pal, assistant engineer of PWD, said, “Work to strengthen and repair the damage on the stretch was on but unfortunately this incident happened and now we will have to start all over again.”“The traffic density during the tourist season is quite high and the constant influx of vehicles create small earthquake-like tremors. The cumulative impact of these tremors, round the clock, build over three months. As monsoons arrive, it takes a toll on the weaker zones. This particular area in the Mall has been sinking almost every year. Traffic regulations and restoration of the drainage system is imperative for a sustainable Nainital,” said Vishal Singh, deputy executive director of Dehradun-based CEDAR (Centre for Ecology Development and Research).The Mall road had come to existence in early 1900s after the town was founded by a British man, P Barron, in 1841.

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