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| PMGSY roads in Kishtwar untraceable | | Roads to nowhere! | | Akshay Azad
Jammu, Oct 16: Bizarre but true - the whereabouts of all newly constructed roads under Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna in district Kishtwar are not known. They are reported to have submerged beneath landslides, making their physical verifications by government agencies a practical impossibility.
Sources informed Early Times that while conducting physical verification of PMGSY roads from Chatroo to Maliknar, Udil Gujran to Batwari and Mulchitter Paien to Mulchitter Balla of division Chatroo of district Kishtwar, a team of state government observed that only signboards were installed at the take off points indicating details viz-a-viz name of road, cost of project, funding agency and length to be developed.
"However, besides the signboards no roads were visible at the take off points", the team maintained, adding that following enquiry from executive engineer, they were informed that the earthwork was executed but was washed away due to landslides, some months back.
The team further observed that the debris of the landslide had taken the shape of a slope with no path to go ahead. "However up to a distance of about one kilometer some earthwork seems to have been carried out but it's difficult to tell if the road was actually constructed as was reported by the Executive Engineer", the team members said.
They further said that some of the roads taken up under PMGSY were to be maintained for a period of 5 years by the contractor, to whom the work was assigned. "Even if the claim of the Executive Engineer about the construction of road is considered true, the debris should have been removed by the executing department/contractor and work resumed, but no work was in progress at site", they maintained.
The executive engineer further informed the team that, they have been requesting time and again to contractor to resume the work, but nothing has been done by contractor. "Astonishingly in-spite of repeated requests, no action has been taken against contractor by the department", the team stated.
The team members further observed that the story of some other newly constructed roads under PMGSY in all the three divisions of Kishtwar was same. "The primary objective of the PMGSY is to provide connectivity, by way of an all-weather road (with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures, which is operable throughout the year), to the eligible unconnected habitations in the rural areas, but after visiting the proposed PMGSY roads in Kishtwar it appears that there is a massive gap between the objective of PMGSY and its execution", the team members said.
Giving their suggestions to state government, the team members said that the PMGSY roads in Kishtwar (new constructions) in all the three divisions need to be investigated through the Chief Engineer, PWD Jammu to verify, whether the expenditure incurred by the executing agency was in consonance with the PMGSY norms and if earthwork of these roads was carried out, was it in compatibility with engineering requirements.
They further suggested to fix responsibility on erring officials/contractors and also suggest further steps required for restarting the work, besides adding that if allegations would be proved right, the case seems fit to be referred to the State Vigilance Organization for investigation. |
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