Thirty-six years have passed by when the Government had made a commitment that 65 kilometers long Bani – Billawar road would be completed in all respects. The situation is that after 36 years of having floated the project, only 11 kilometers of this road is motor-able in all respects with black-toping. The rest of the road is either still not constructed or not blacktopped. It is a joke with the people to have stretched this important project for such a long time with good deal of allocation made for the project. The stretches of this road are sometimes given differential treatment and handed over either to one department or to the other. At least a population of 50,000 depends on this vital connectivity. They hailed the project when it was initially announced as it would cut short their journey massively. Nobody had imagined that the elected representatives of the region would become paper tigers and would not be able to exert influence on the Government agencies to take the region out of backwardness. How sad that even after 70 years of Independence, the helpless people from Lohai- Malhar and Machhedi areas, which are also part of Bani constituency, could not have direct road communication with the Sub Divisional Headquarters at Bani. Although this area is closer to Billawar town yet people of this area have to cover over 165 kms distance to reach Bani for any work at Bani Headquarters.
We understand that the Union Minister for Surface Transport has shown special interest in the road network in the hilly State of Jammu and Kashmir. One cannot understand why this vital link has not been brought on priority list and included in the roads which the Union Ministry of Surface Transport has identified for development. The situation demands Union and State Governments to mitigate the difficulty of a large number of villagers in this far off region of Kathua District by getting the left over road constructed in a time bound manner.
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