India News

Villagers Protest Against Poor Roads In Budgam

Apart from the hundreds of potholes, the Alamdar road among other roads is unmotorable at many places, causing trouble to even pedestrians.

SRINAGAR (J&K)

The residents of Dalwan area in central Kashmir’s Budgam district have accused the authorities of failing to repair a vital road stretch in their area, which is causing immense hardships to the locals as well as commuters from other areas.

According to the residents, who also held a protest demonstration, about 15-kilometre-long stretch of road connecting Nagam-Kanidajan via Hayatpora, Dalwan and 4-kilometer-long road stretch connection Dalwan to Pakherpora via Chraripora, Shankarpora is in a really bad state. Apart from the hundreds of potholes, the roads are unmotorable at many places, causing trouble to even pedestrians. The road is named as Alamdar Road in Revenue Department, as per the locals.

Ghulam Rasool Dar, a local resident, while speaking about the dilapidated condition of the roads, told Digpu News that the road had not been repaired for past many years.

“We brought the issue to the notice of authorities umpteen times and even filed a written grievance to (Lt.) Governor Manoj Sinha but nothing has been done so far,” he said, adding that water accumulates in the potholes, making the journey on this ‘vital’ road even more difficult.

While stating that the road was repaired last when Abdul Rahim Rather (the former National Conference MLA) was in power, Ghulam Rasool said that the poor condition of the road continues to expose the local residents to various health hazards as the vehicles kick up clouds of dust while passing through it.

Another resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the road wasn’t posing threat to four-wheeler vehicles only but is equally dangerous for the two-wheeler riders. “The bumps throw the unsuspected riders off balance and cause accidents,” he added.

Many residents in the village in Budgam said that due to this battered stretch, risk of accidents particularly during the peak harvesting season increases manifold. They appealed the local administration to repair the road before further damage due to rains or snow.

Speaking to Digpu, Er Hilal Sheikh, Executive Engineer R&B Division, Chadoora said that the Nagam-Kanidajan road will be repaired in 2021 as it comes under PMGSY, Kashmir which usually undertakes road repair works five years after the last repair or blacktopping. “The road was ‘upgraded’ last in 2016,” he said.

While acknowledging the bad condition of roads, the official, however, said that the department fails to repair all roads, given the issue of shortage of funds.

To a specific question as to whether any repair work was on the cards this year, he said, “Winter season has already arrived and no repair work will take place now.”

Watch the video to know more.

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Dil-Paziir (Urdu; meaning ‘heart-pleasing’) is a special edition news series brought to you by Digpu, sourced from conflict areas, starting from Kashmir. Our local journalists have successfully shared many inspirational stories from the valley – from the invention of E-Charkha, automatic ventilator in Kashmir, stories of brotherhood through to the first-ever cricket tourney for Blind sportsmen, all the stories make us awe-struck. These are NOT FOR REPRODUCTION.

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Aasif Ganaie

Aasif is a journalist and a news enthusiast based in Jammu & Kashmir. He voyages to explore and uncover the stories More »

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