ISHTIYAQ AHMAD
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, May 18: There is no end to the woes of commuters who have to travel on the Srinagar- Jammu National Highway, the only road connecting Kashmir with rest of the world.
Every day commuters face the risk due to landslides at several places. With a wide stretch at many places and several landslide-prone points on the road, commuters are left with no choice but to risk their lives while traveling on this Highway every day. On Saturday two people were killed and eight injured when a massive landslide hit highway at Ramban.
Over the years, dozens of people who were traveling on this road lost their lives. In March this year, several people lost their lives including a youth from Khayam when his car was hit by shooting stones on the highway.
At the same time, the government has failed to complete major developmental projects in Kashmir, which could have helped Kashmir to remain accessible with rest of the world, and helped its economy to grow.
It has been 16-years since the centre approved construction of tunnel on the Mughal Road, the project is yet to see the ray of the light.
The project was approved in 2004, when the PDP shared power with Congress in the state. The proposal was for seven-kilometer long tunnel between Zaznar and Chathapani at 3000 meters altitude on the 230-year-old Mughal road.
“The construction of the tunnel would have made the Mughal Road all weather road,” an official of Roads and Development Department told early times. “There has been undue delay in construction of the tunnel, which would have enable round-the-year connectivity on historic Mughal Road,” the official said.
The Mughal Road, which goes through Shopian to Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, lies close since November every year.
“Whenever there is any downpour the highway remains closed. Had the government constructed the tunnel on the Mughal Road, it would have saved us from losses,” Mehrajdin, a fruit grower from Shopian, said.
Similarly, the construction of four-laning Srinagar-Banihal road link has missed multiple deadlines.
The four-laning of Jammu-Udhampur link has been completed long ago and work on the expansion of road beyond Udhampur is underway. But the Srinagar-Banihal four laning is yet to be completed.
Similarly, a railway line up to Udhampur on Jammu side was completed a long ago but rail network sanctioned in 1995, which would connect Kashmir with other states, is still far from completion.
In the past 25 years, this project has faced cost overrun of over Rs 25000 crore. The Jammu-Srinagar railway link was declared a “national project” in 2002 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government and August 15, 2007 was the deadline fixed for its completion.
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