Early Times Report
Jammu, June 16: Notwithstanding claims of the authorities, the prestigious project to widen the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway is going to miss another deadline as the work on the 36-kilometer Ramban-Banihal stretch is going at a snail’s pace.
Ramban-Banihal stretch is the most difficult terrain on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway as this stretch is full of ‘trouble points’.
Sources said that due to faulty Detailed Project Report (DPR) of this treacherous stretch, authorities were forced to realigned the project of this 36-Km of the track to skip the difficult points.
In the total 36-Km Ramban-Banihal stretch, 14-km of the route between Marog and Makarkote villages was full of ‘trouble points’. Executing agencies were finding it difficult to work this treacherous stretch so it was decided to realign the project to skip vulnerable spots.
Sources said that all major dangerous points, including Marog, Panthial, Khuni Nullah, Digdol, and Battery Chashma, have bypassed after realignment. To avoid landslide-prone and sinking areas, tunnels and bridges would be constructed as per realigned project.
As of now, executive agencies are working on two difficult stretches, including the 43-km-long Udhampur-Ramban section and the 36-km-long Ramban-Banihal portion on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. Work on the widening of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was started in 2011 with the target of completing it within five years. After widening the highway, the travel time would get reduced by half as the distance would be reduced by 50 km bypassing a number of treacherous points.
In the month of August 2020, it was announced that the widening of the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, would be completed by December 2021. |
