Shimla, Feb 5 (IANS) The central government has agreed to upgrade the National Highway 21 (Chandigarh-Manali) to four lanes in Himachal Pradesh to streamline traffic, state Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said Friday.

'Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath today (Friday) agreed to our proposal to lay four lanes on the entire 250-km long Chandigarh-Manali highway to ease traffic rush,' Thakur said in New Delhi after attending the PWD ministers' conference.

He said joint teams of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the state PWD would conduct surveys of the highway.

'Since the central government is constructing six lanes between Chandigarh and Nangal (town in Punjab), we demanded that the highway should be strengthened in our state too. So the central government has agreed for laying four lanes from Kiratpur (near Nangal) to Manali,' Thakur said.

The strategic Chandigarh-Manali highway also plays an important role for the movement of troops to forward areas in Ladakh as it further links with 475 km Manali-Leh highway.