Nadeem Nadu
Srinagar: After missing multiple deadlines, the four lanning of Srinagar- Banihal road is likely to consume another year as the stretch has seen least progress previous year.
The Srinagar-Jammu highway is the lone road connectivity link to Kashmir; however the inordinate delay in its completion has put question over the ability of executing agencies.
Four years ago in 2011, the NHAI awarded contract to Ramky Construction firm for the four lanning of 70 kilometre stretch of the Highway to make it all-weather road.
The NHAI at that time fixed December 2014 as deadline which it missed after only 30 percent of the construction work was completed by the firm then.
Later NHAI set December 2015 another deadline for the four lanning of this 70 Kilometre stretch which again was missed due to official hiccups.
Recently the NHAI missed third consecutive deadline in July 2016 leaving the project in further doldrums.
Sources said that the failure in completion of land acquisition process was the main reason behind the delay in the completion of the project.
As per official estimates out of 4,087 kanals of land involved in the construction of the road, 3,588 kanals were acquired in Anantnag district and handed over to the NHAI, and in Pulwama district out of 2,554 kanals of land, 1,859 kanals were acquired for the project till 2015.
Under PMGSY, a total of 1726 kanals of land has been utilized in the construction of roads at various places in the Anantnag district. The officials records said that out of 95 disputed land cases, 77 cases were settled so far for which an amount of Rs. 45 crore have been disbursed among the landholders till 2015.
The NHAI and Ramky blame 2014 floods and 2016 Kashmir unrest for the delay in completion of the project.
“Unrest this year and floods in 2014 delayed the completion of the work, however now we have resumed work at various places,” said Vice-President of Ramky Infrastructure Limited, AyazHussain.
On the other hand, J&K Government’s repeated pleas to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways and NHAI to get the project completed have fallen on deaf ears.
However senior officials said that 75 percent of the work has been completed on the project adding that the project will be completed by the end of 2017. “Almost 75 percent of the work has been completed on the project. We will complete the rest of the work in 2017,” he said.
Ramky firm took over the project on the same date when another firm Afcons infrastructure was awarded Jammu- Udhampur stretch.
Interestingly the Jammu- Udhampur highway has seen completion years ago. “You can understand the work culture of NHAI here as another stretch has been completed a long time ago. Jammu – Udhampur despite being a mountainous terrain took very less time,” said a resident of Qazigund.
For the general public, the highway missing yet another deadline was bad news. “We have been bearing the pathetic condition of this road for more than six years. The end does not seem to be in sight,” said Bashir Ahmad, a Sumo driver.
He shuttles between Srinagar and Anantnag on a daily basis. He said the highway had become a death trap. Frequent accidents had become the norm on the highway.
While contacting R&B Minister and RAMKY they didn’t attend our call.
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