Srinagar-Jammu highway in shambles

KL Report

SRINAGAR

Commuters travelling on the 300 kilometre Srinagar Jammu highway have alleged that due to bad road conditions right from Ramban to Badami Bagh Contonment area, traffic jams are becoming the order of the day while traffic authorities are miserably failing to regulate vehicular movement along the route.

Reports said that Srinagar Jammu highway is not in proper condition while drivers and commuters are alleging that due to the dilapidated road they face great inconvenience. “The road is in shambles and there are patch holes everywhere. You feel at ease once you cross the tunnel and move towards Jammu because the condition of the road is extremely good, but once your cross the tunnel and move towards Srinagar, you fell irritation. Right from Ramban to Badami Bagh, the road is in shambles and at hundreds of places you will find patch holes, water logging and mud everywhere,” a Sumo driver, Bilal Ahmed told CNS.

Sumo and taxi operators said that their vehicles have suffered extensive damage due to the dilapidated roads. “This road is life-line for the people of the State but no efforts are made to macadamize it,” an operator said, adding that poor condition of the highway is also a cause of frequent traffic gridlocks on the highway.

“The Border Roads Organization and the National Highways Authority of India cannot escape the blame for the traffic mess. They have failed to maintain the road,” a medico said, adding that both these agencies should be taken to task for failing to keep the road in a proper condition.

Chief Engineer Border Roads Organization, Raj Kanwal Sharma admitted that the road is in bad shape and needs black topping. “It is job of our agency to maintain the road from Qazigund to Badami Bagh but from Qazigund up to Tunnel, the job of mainenence has been entrusted to National Highways Authority of India,” he said, adding that road will be maintained once there will be change in weather. “Time is not conducive for the macadamization as temperatures are low. Once, temperature will start increasing, we will macadamize the road from Qazigund to Badamibagh,” he said.

An official from NHAI also said that road will be macadamized with the change in weather.

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