Mir Farhat
Srinagar, Feb 8: The four-lanning of Banihal-Srinagar stretch of Jammu-Srinagar National highway has missed one more deadline as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has failed to get the project completed on time.
Three years ago in 2011, the NHAI awarded contract to Ramky Construction firm for the four lanning of 70 kilometre stretch of the Highway to make it all-weather road.
The NHAI had said that the highway project will be completed by December 2014. But today the project is still incomplete including the part of it that runs through agriculture fields.
During the construction of the highway, the NHAI passed the buck to the State government, citing that the latter was not helping out in land acquisition from the farmers.
As per official estimates out of 4,087 kanals of land involved in the construction of the road, 3,588 kanals were acquired in Anantnag district and handed over to the NHAI, and in Pulwama district out of 2,554 kanals of land, 1,859 kanals were acquired for the project till last year.
Under PMGSY, a total of 1726 kanals of land has been utilized in the construction of roads at various places in the Anantnag district. The officials records said that out of 95 disputed land cases, 77 cases were settled so far for which an amount of Rs. 45 crore have been disbursed among the landholders till last year.
Inspite of it, the NHAI has been slammed for slow pace of work on the highway, poor maintenance of the existing stretch which is dotted with potholes.
Only 35 percent work on the project is complete. The NHAI has been repeatedly criticized by the State government and the people for not completing the project.
“The slow pace of work displays neglect of the NHAI as the highway has become like any other village road that is inconvenient for driving. Traffic jams are frequent because of which patients, students and others passengers have to face daily hardships,” said Mohammad Sultan, a resident of Pampore.
People also criticized Ramky firm for failing to complete the work even though its competitor Afcon completed the Jammu-Udhampur stretch in time.
“Ramky and Afcon took over the shighway construction on the same date. Despite mountainous terrain, Afcon firm completed its work on the Jammu-Udhampur stretch. Ramky agency is taking undue advantage of the sleeping administration in Kashmir, and NHAI is bating for them,” Sultan said.
He said had the administration and concerned officers taken interest in completion of the highway it would have been completed by this time.
The inordinate delay on the highway by the NHAI was taken by the Chief Secretary, Muhammad Iqbal Khandey on Monday in Jammu. NHAI Project Director, Kashmir, Virender Singh refused to comment, saying that he was in Jammu.
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