| R&B Deptt gears up to connect flood hit areas in Jammu | | 'Of 2708 damaged roads, 2666 have been restored' | | K Koushal
Jammu, Oct 14 : To restore and enhance the motorable communication in flood ravaged Jammu region , Roads and Building (R&B) Department, has pressed all of its resources and machinery so that the relief and rehabilitation process further be strengthened for reaching out to the people even in the farthermost/ interior region of the state.
Official sources within department said, "Equipped with over 375 excavators and JCBs, the department coming to the expectation of state government has provisionally restored 2666 road links out of damaged 2708 link roads, having a total road length of 2692 kilometers spread across the ten districts of the Jammu region of state."
Buoyant over the pace of the ongoing restoration works, the officials maintained while the work on the rest of roads is under progress and hoped that road connectivity to the rest will too restored soon.
Giving details of the massive restoration project, sources said, "The recent floods and heavy rains have affected at least 2708 main roads, 54 links roads to the major bridges and 177 approach roads to the foot bridges in 10 districts of the Jammu." They said soon as the weather permitted the restoration works the R&B department shouldering responsibility entrusted to it has put it's all out effort to reconnect the whole region and somehow it (department) managed majority of its works completed much before expected time. "The technical staff including engineers from R&B Department have restored road network of 2666 roads on interim basis, besides this at least 34 approach roads to the major bridges and 28 to the foot bridges have also been restored to ensure movement," said official however on assured anonymity.
Keeping in view the communication problem of the people, R&B have temporarily provided motor-able path in most of the areas, especially in the hilly terrain of Poonch, where as many as 28 bridges, including one major bridge were damaged at various locations, hitting vehicular traffic and pedestrian movement. Officials, while giving detail, said that the roads, bridges and approaches to the bridges are restored on a temporarily basis, whereas tendering process for the permanent reconstruction of these roads is under progress. Meanwhile when contacted Chief Engineer, R&B Jammu, Abdul Hamid briefly said that they have pressed all 'men and machinery' for the restoration of the road connectivity in the region and have succeeded in provisionally restoring road connectivity.
He however added that due to the extensive damage to the infrastructure at many places, especially of approach roads, the temporary restoration won't work. "We need some time to get permanent fixtures to maintain the life and worth of these some selected road links- that yet have not been restored till date, he added.
"We have temporarily restored the damaged roads for the movement, but still at many places roads and foot bridges are washed away, which need to be reconstructed and for that we are working on the tendering process," said Chief Engineer R&B.
Replying to a query about the total assessed loss in terms of damages to road linkage within region, Chief Engineer R&B, said that assessment of losses due to road network in Jammu region has been put around at Rs 484 Crore which itself indicates the havoc created by the nature a month ago. |
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