Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken a significant decision of sanctioning one third of the total budget for road constructions in the country to our State. Out of a budget of Rs. 60,000 crore, J&K will receive Rs. 20,000 crore for 4-laning of highway, 2-laning of inner roads and improvement of all roads in all the three regions of the State. Though road building and road widening projects had been there on the anvil but these had met with bottlenecks in the shape of either paucity of funds or logistical difficulties particularly of land acquisition and forest clearance etc. Special treatment has been meted out to J&K State owing to its long border with China and Pakistan and the poor connectivity of borders because of topographical and weather conditions. The major consideration in making frugal allotments to the State has been of its strategic location. The Union Ministry is fully conscious of the need of bringing all weather road connectivity to the border areas so that defence policy of our borders is reinforced.
Ladakh region has lagged behind in road connectivity despite the fact that it touches with the Chinese border to the east and north. Therefore special attention needs to be paid to develop road connectivity in Ladakh and Kargil regions. Inner roads in Jammu and Kashmir will have to be widened and made 2-lanes. The project has to be completed within two and a half year. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has shown his dissatisfaction with the Border Roads Organization and would be asking the State Government to cooperate with the Union Ministry of Roads in undertaking the big project of construction and widening of roads in Jammu and Kashmir.
This opens a new chapter in the task of upgrading and streamlining connectivity programme in the State. The notable thing is that the Union Ministry for Roads Transport and Highways does not like that road projects already undertaken in the State should be left as these are. He has issued specific instructions that these have to be revived and completed within the stipulated time. At a speed of 30 kilometers of new roads per day, the criterion laid down by the Union Minister, it should be possible for authorities to complete the projects within the stipulated time frame of two and a half years.
Looking retrospectively at the task of road connectivity projects in the State, we find that though blue prints were prepared and formal sanctions were accorded to various projects but on the ground, the status was pitiable. The condition of existing roads was going from bad to worse and no new projects were completed in time. Cost escalation or difficulty in land acquisition was cited as main hurdles. But now the instructions are that Detailed Project Reports (DPR) have to be submitted within three months. In addition to the allocated amount, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is also inclined to invest another Rs 6000 crore for special highway network in the State by way of giving boost to tourism. It has noted that owing to bad roads and bad connectivity, J&K tourism is not able to make good progress. Moreover, streamlining of road connectivity will also help in boosting tourist industry in the regions of Jammu and Ladakh. In particular, Ladakh could become an important tourist destination if its road connectivity with the outer world remains open throughout the year. With the construction of two tunnels at ZojiLa, it should be possible to maintain round the year connectivity with Ladakh and Kargil.
Now that clearance and guidance have come from the Centre, and also the recommendation that the State PWD Department collaborates with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in building new roads or widening the existing ones, the State Government should have no excuse of complaining of one or the other thing as the reason for not completing the project within time frame. We fail to understand why land acquisition should become a forbidding issue when there is the Act and precedence. It is owing to mismanagement of Revenue Department that land acquisition turns into long litigation affair. The Government has to be decisive and quick in asking the Revenue and Forest Departments to shun the old archaic way of handling things and understand the spirit of new entrepreneurship. If the State Government is able to handle the opportunity properly, it will usher in a new era of prosperity in the state when even the farthest villages are linked through road connection.
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