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| Restoration may take one week; CM visits Doda, assures transshipment of stranded passengers | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 6: As this tragedy in making was waiting to happen, two districts with Doda belt lost surface connection with rest of the region after sinking in of Batote-Doda road following incessant rainfalls of since last night.
Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah today had an aerial visit of Assar area where nearly 150-metre road-stretch between Assar and Trungal was washed away due to heavy overnight rains. Four vehicles were swept away in the incident; however, no loss of life has been reported so far. The road link between Batote and Doda and onwards to Kishtwar has been snapped and it might take two to three days for restoration.
The incident occurred during last night due to heavy rainfall when long stretch of the main road sunk in after slipping down of a mountainous pass. Four stranded vehicles also washed away and plunged into the River Chenab. The vehicles which plunged in the river Chenab are two trucks bearing registration Nos. 6237/JK02F and 3198/JK02D , one police Ambulance bearing registration No. 1893/JK06 and one Van bearing registration No. 2235/JK06 . The drivers of these vehicles except driver of the Van are found unhurt as they have managed to save their lives, while as the whereabouts of the driver of van is being ascertained.
It may be mentioned here that even after repeated appraisal of the road condition by the administration paid no heed towards it. Moreover this is not the only location where road often sinks. The entire 120km stretch of Batote-Kishtwar national highway is on verge of sinking as the water level rises in river Chenab after commissioning of Baglihar Hydroelectric Project.
In this connection when Deputy Commissioner Doda, Sharief-ud-Din was contacted he said that it may take almost five or six days to restore connection as the entire road had got down in river. He further added that new route has to be made for which speedy work was started.
Ghulam Nabi Batt, a passenger who was on way from Jammu towards Doda while explaining the position of the spot on telephone said that major portion of the mountain have been wiped off and the seen was horrible as though there is no sign of road.
Ashraf Zarger, general secretary, Doda Development Front said that it was the carelessness of the administration that it did not took precautionary measures to avert such mishaps.
Upon hearing the news of the incident, Chief Minister cancelled his appointments and within one hour was at the site of the slide.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who had an aerial view of the situation, saw the stranded people on either side of the slide. Both outgoing and incoming Divisional ommissioners, Jammu, Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey and Dr. Pawan Kotwal, accompanied Abdullah. The Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Syed Sharief-ud-Din and SSP, Doda, Mr. Parbhat Singh are at the site and monitoring the situation.
After landing at Doda, the Chief Minister met senior citizens of the district. He assured them that the transhipment of stranded persons across the slide would be taken up on priority by the Divisional Administration.
Stating that everything would be done to facilitate the affected people, the Chief Minister said that in case of medical emergency, civil and army helicopters would be pressed into service. Meanwhile, giving details, a police spokesman said that four vehicles including two trucks, one police ambulance and a van were washed away due to sinking of the road due to heavy rains. However, no loss of life has been reported, he said, adding that one driver of the vehicle was able to save his life while whereabouts of the other could not be ascertained.
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