Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Sept 22: Due to ongoing unrest across Valley, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has faced an estimated Rs 40 crore loss since July 9 as work on all the projects has been adversely hit in Kashmir.
Chief Engineer, BRO, Brigadier AK Das, told Excelsior that the unrest has stalled all the works of the Beacon and they continue to remain suspended. He said an estimated Rs 40 crore loss has been faced due to no progress on road projects since July 9.
“We have lost three precious months of working season. We were not able to utilize the amount and unfortunately we have to return it,” he said.
He said besides facing losses due to no progress on construction and developmental projects, the Beacon property was also damaged during the unrest that includes its vehicles. “The angry crowds attacked our vehicles by breaking their glasses and also one of the vehicles was set ablaze completely,” the Brigadier said. The protesters also damaged plants and equipments of the Beacon.
Brigadier Das said it was not possible for the BRO to continue works due to volatile situation and lack of labour and logistics. “We mostly rely on local labourers who are not available this time. Also, the material is unavailable as all factories are closed. Besides this, the contractors are also unavailable and our own 100 labourers fled the Valley due to unrest,” he added.
The BRO Chief Engineer said that the unrest will result in delaying of completion of major projects as a result many targets will have to be revised. “Four laning works on Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri scheduled for completion by July 2016 has been delayed. Though the work before the unrest was going on full swing but it is suspended as of now,” he said.
The Beacon said that handing over of Sinthan Pass-Anantnag to NHAI road will be postponed as the pending work on this road will now go beyond the planned PDC of September 2016. Brigadier Dass said that the Beacon was supposed to black-top estimated 70 kilometers of road but the same couldn’t be carried out.
“Some of the roads that were supposed to be black-topped include Tangdar road (15 kilometers), Bandipora-Gurez Road (8 kilometers) and also Hajibal-Machil road,” he said. Besides, he said, the work on the construction of two bridges that include Red Bridge connecting Uri-Salamabad and another on Bandipora-Gurez couldn’t be carried out due to prevailing circumstances. “Laying of concrete blocks on Zojilla also remained incomplete,” said the Brigadier.
Raised in 1965, Project Beacon has been solely responsible for providing connectivity in Kashmir valley by developing roads through most challenging terrain and climatic conditions. The Beacon said that the most affected locations where delay/loss of work has been seen are Tangdhar, Anantnag, Kupwara and Bandipora sectors.
According to Chief Engineer of BRO, there are little chances of resuming works on the developmental and construction projects this year as the working season is almost over. “The situation is yet to normalize and we have only one month of working season. It’s almost over now for this year as winter is also approaching. Let’s hope for things to get better,” he added.
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