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| Short sightedness, lack of planning lead to draining of 32 crores | | Alternate highway compounds problems of people | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, June 21: An amount of more than 30 crores has gone down the drain as the Natipora-Newa road connecting some districts of Kashmir valley with those of Jammu division has been squeezed to a street despite the fact that thousands of vehicles pass through the road on daily basis.
As on date the 21 kilometers long Natipora-Newa road is no more a road connecting Kashmir with some districts of Jammu. Due to the narrowness of the road there are recurring possibilities of accidents. Some accidents have occurred in the past and more can't be ruled out given the width of the road. This road has come up as alternative to the national highway.
Short sightedness and lack of planning from the policy makers has led to a situation where hardly two vehicles pass through at many places on the road. Other than this the people living in the areas whereby the vehicles pass allege that sub-standard material has been used. They also say the drainage system put in place by the executing agency is defunct leading to inundation after a short spell of rainfall.
"This road connects Srinagar and Budgam districts of Central Kashmir with South Kashmir districts of Pulwama and Shopian. Furthermore, this road leads to Mughal Road that is used as a route by people traveling to Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu division. Despite having great significance the road instead of being a four lane has been reduced to single lane at most places and double lane at few places," said Mukhtar Ahmad, a resident of Hamza Colony, Kanipora.
Mukhtar said that the material used in the construction of the road is sub-standard with the macadam on the road coming off at many places. He said the drainage system is faulty with the rain water getting accumulated on the sides causing numerous problems to the people.
"Few minutes of rain leads to problems for us since the water gets accumulated in the lanes and by-lanes of the area. There is no outlet for the water and as such it gets accumulated and after that it enters our houses. The footpaths or the side roads were dug up by Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), but were not filled. The project that cost Rs. 32 crores to the state ex-chequer has failed to live its utility and the desired results have not been achieved," said Mukhtar.
A group of locals said that the contract was initially awarded to a contractor of Uttar Pradesh who in turn sublet the work to a local contractor. The locals said that there was no follow-up from ERA and as such no quality check of the material used was carried during the work on the road.
"This project was funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and as such the ADB norms had to be followed. That was not the case and the quality was compromised by the executing agency. Less than two years after being commissioned the efficacy of the project has come under scanner. The road is narrow generally more so in areas like Kanipora, Dangerpora, Wanpora and Chattergam and as such these areas are vulnerable to the road accidents," said the locals.
The locals said that the consultants engaged by ERA failed to discharge their duties in a professional manner thus leading to multiple problems for the common masses. They said that despite lodging complaints about the quality of work and other problems the executing agency never bothered to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, an official of ERA said that the agency had to execute the plan within the budgetary allocation of Rs. 32 crores. The official said that it was not possible for them to modify the project since it would have led to financial implications.
"It may be true that the road is not wide enough at certain places, but this thing cannot be generalized. Furthermore, if we would have gone for the widening process then there would have been escalation in the total project cost. We had to work within the budget and we were helpless in this regard," said the ERA official.
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