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| Governor stresses for gearing up road projects | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Nov 13: Stressing the critical importance of satisfactory road connectivity in a hilly State like Jammu and Kashmir, Governor, NN Vohra, today called for an effective and cohesive mechanism for the construction, up-gradation and maintenance of the existing and new roads.
The Governor was reviewing the to-date status of the various roads taken up in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh Divisions by the Border Roads Organization through the BEACON, SAMPARAK and the HIMANK Projects at a high level meeting held here this morning.
Vohra observed that roads in the border belts of the State, which depended heavily on surface transport due to the lack of railways, were strategically important for the defence and overall development of the three regions of the State. He exhorted the executing agencies and the various concerned departments in the State Government to work in very close coordination for removing all bottlenecks, which may come in the way of the various road and bridge projects, for cutting delays and ensuring the time-bound completion of the ongoing projects. He particularly expressed concern over the avoidable delay in releasing payments for the area of land acquired for the various projects and target dates for clearing all pending cases.
Responding to the request of the Project BEACON for earmarking adequate funds for snow clearance on various Highways in the State, the Governor assured that he will take up this issue with the Government of India, as snow clearance was crucial to maintaining connectivity in the remote and far flung areas.
Vohra reviewed each project in detail and gave specific instructions in regard to the checking delays emerging for issues relating to land acquisition, forest clearance etc.
The Governor was informed that 77-kilometer Bani-Bhaderwah and the 29 kilometer Pul Doda-Bhaderwah Roads were ready for being handed over to the State Public Works Department by Project BEACON.
Giving a presentation on the BEACON Projects, Chief Engineer, Brig Ashok Bhutani, said that his organisation was responsible for maintaining about 1930 kilometer of roads, mostly in the Valley. Under the Prime Minister’s Package, six road projects of Batote-Kishtwar (110 kilometer), Kishtwar-Sinthan Pass (83 kilometer), Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri (72 kilometer), Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri (94 kilometer) and Ramban-Gool Roads (10.58 kilometer), have been taken up at a cost of over Rs 1051 crore These roads are in different stages of completion, so far Rs 473 crore have been spent on these projects.
Under the Border Area Development Programme, the Gulmarg-Asha (about 14-kilometer) and Payarpora-Guthomdori (34-kilometer) roads have been taken up at a cost of Rs 59.11 crore, of which Rs 15.30 crore have been spent till now. He also briefed the Governor about the status of the Uri-Salamabad-Kaman Post, Pul Doda-Bhaderwah, Bandipur-Gurez, Chowkibal-Tanghdhar-Chamkot and Kastwar-Lokut-Bungas-Drangyari Roads.
Chief Engineer, Project SAMPARK, Brig U S Dadu, briefed the Governor on the present status of Jammu-Akhnoor-Bhamla-Naushehra-Rajouri-Surankote-Poonch Road (240 kilometer) and the Kharta—Riasi-Pouni-Kalakote-Rajouri (196 kilometer) and the Rajouri-Kandi-Budhal-Maur and Gool Road.( 174 kilometer). He also explained the to-date status of the roads taken up under the Border Area Development Programme.
Briefing the Governor about the road network in Ladakh region, the Chief Engineer, HIMANK, Brig Arun Kumar, said that his organisation was responsible for the maintenance and upgradation of 2898 kilometer roads in the region. The HIMANK Project has taken up 1269 kilometer roads under construction. He gave a detailed briefing in respect of Zojila-Leh (322 kilometer), Upshi-Specfn (202 kilometer), Sanku-Mulbek (72 kilometer )and Nimmu-Shinkun La (249 kilometer) ROADS.
The Governor asked the Commissioner Revenue and the Principal Secretary Forests to ensure clearance of all cases pending in the Departments by 27 November and the Secretary Public Works to send him a fortnightly programme reports.
Advisor to Governor, Mr C Phunsog, Chief Secretary, Mr S S Kapur, Principal Secretary Forests, Mr Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretary to Governor, Mr B B Vyas, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, Commissioner/Secretary Revenue, Mr Lokesh Jha, Secretary Works, Mr Shailendra Kumar, Additional Commissioner, Kashmir, Mr Farooq Renzu, Project Director, National Highway Authority of India, Mr R K Jain, Chief Engineer, R&B Jammu, Mr Nazeer Ahmed and three Chief Engineers of BEACON, SAMPARK and HIMANK Projects were present in the meeting. |
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