Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 8: Jammu and Kashmir Socio Economic Coordination Committee (JKSECC) today expressed dismay and disappointment over the collection of toll tax by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on the uncompleted stretch of Srinagar-Udhampur road at Sangam point.
JKSECC in a statement said that its members questioned the legal authenticity of the decision taken by a “non-local organization” that has been involved in execution of a centrally sponsored road project “which,” it said, “cannot claim ownership on the road being constructed by them under any law of the land.”
“This is simply illegal and unconstitutional. The members further explained that land for any centrally sponsored project could be requisioned by and allotted to President of India who in turn may give it to the concerned agency for execution of a particular project. Such an agency after completion of the project is under obligation to return back the project to the State Government for the benefit of its citizens,” the statement said.
The members further observed that the decision seems to have been taken “without application of mind and without taking the State Government into confidence.”
In fact, JKSECC said, ”the State Government has to make NHAI accountable for an unprecedented delay in the completion of the road project that was assigned to them 25 years back.”
Whereas the delay has resulted in great public inconvenience, JKSECC said that it has also caused “huge monetary losses to the traders and transporters. The frequent closure of the highway because of heavy land sliding attributable to the construction works has unleashed socio economic problems of unimaginable magnitude in the valley”
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