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| Another deadline likely to be missed | | Mughal road going Baglihar way; HCC takes Muftis, Abdullahs all for ride | | Sayed Junaid Hashmi
Jammu, Jan 23: Mughal Road is seemingly becoming another Baglihar of Jammu and Kashmir with State Government revising the completion date on yearly basis since the day construction began in the year 1969. Now the new date is March 2013.
If the condition of the road is any indicator, this new deadline is merely to keep the public mind engaged. Despite being open for Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs), the road is in extremely bad condition and it is likely to take another two years for Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) to complete the work. And if lax attitude of Government is taken into account, HCC may not be able to fulfill this two year deadline.
Along the 84-km Mughal road, stretches falling in areas Chatrian, Poshiana, Dangrian and Chatranallah near Peer Ki Gali are slide prone while there are still a number of bridges which are to be completed. Sources said that with Government acting callously, HCC has been working at snail's pace and justifying the delay by starting that they have just six months to work.
The company further says that they find difficulty in arranging skilled and semi-skilled labour. First the project was held-up on account of the tussle over the Wildlife Sanctuary. Then there was 2008 Amarnath land row agitation following which there was the Shopian case. HCC gives these arguments to justify delay in the completion of the road project. And when all this fails, the company comes up with weather theory.
Official sources confirmed that they won't be able to meet the March 2013 deadline. Ex-Minister for Roads and Buildings Department, GM Saroori is on record having said on August 19 last year that the project would be ready by end of 2011. But the State has missed several deadlines since then. Earlier, the HCC was supposed to complete the project in three years.
The construction on the project had begun in 2005 and was scheduled to be completed by 2007. As the road passed through Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, there was opposition to it on grounds that it would endanger wildlife. Finally, the Supreme Court gave conditional permission for its construction. Sources said the masonry work along the 41-km stretch between Shopian and Pir Ki Gali has been stopped while work on the road towards Bufliaz side in Poonch district is on at a snail's pace.
It has also been reported that the much hyped Pir-Ki-Gali tunnel project announced by the State Government to be build on the historic under-construction Mughal road could, once again, run into rough weather, as it is unlikely to get environmental clearance from the Union Environmental Ministry. Pertinently Mughal road is long saga of missed deadlines. The original project was of Rs 255 crores, but the delays since 2006 escalated the cost and recently a Central team revised the cost to Rs. 639.85 crore to accommodate construction of double-lane, seven major bridges, 21 minor bridges and 263 culverts.
In November 2009, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a ride along the ancient 84-km Shopian-Bafliaz stretch of the Mughal road in a cavalcade from Dubjan to Peer Ki Gali. "It is after 400 years that a ruler is travelling the road. It is a historic occasion. An occasion never to be forgotten. It was my grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah's dream which has been realised today. The feeling cannot be expressed through words," said Abdullah, after his long drive.
The Mughal road will join Kashmir with Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu division. It will take only four hours to reach Jammu region. Otherwise it takes nine hours from Srinagar to reach Jammu and another eight hours to reach Bafliaz, the other end of the Shopian road. |
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