Excelsior Correspondent
BHADERWAH, Aug 6: The majority of stretch on inter state Bhaderwah-Chamba road leading to historic and ancient pilgrimage destinations, both at Bhaderwah and Chamba are teeming with potholes, landslides, chocked drains and culverts offering bumpy rides to commuters.
Though the condition of surface infrastructure on this strategically important road, which is the only link after Lakhanpur which connects Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of country, is in pathetic shape, the State R&B authorities are paying no heed to the deteriorating condition.
The residents complain that lack of repair and upgradation of dilapidated road disrupts vehicular movement on this strategically important inter-state road every now and then. As the condition of road continue to trouble people, especially tourists and pilgrims, authorities projected Bhaderwah-Chamba road as the new and alternate road connecting Jammu and Kashmir with rest of the country, but this route has become a big worry for people now.
“Tourists often complain about the bad quality of roads and we try to explain in vain to authorities that good roads are important for tourism”, said Imtiaz-ul-Rehman Jaggu, an eco-tourism village owner.
It is unfortunate that after floating the tenders for full restoration of Bhaderwah-Chamba road last month, reportedly Superintending Engineering (SE) R&B Doda canceled the same on the pretext of non-availability of funds, Jaggu added.
“Patchwork and partial restoration is not enough to keep the tourist flow. We want the Government should take corrective steps towards bad roads problem by starting full restoration of this important road link”, said social worker Manoj Kotwal.
Although nearly 100 crore of rupees have been spent on upgradation of Chamba road but due to official apathy and political vendetta, all the money and efforts seem to be going to drain, said MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta.
“I had drawn the attention of house (Council) and also during Chief Minister’s review meeting towards the issue and CM has promised to look into the matter”, MLC added.
When contacted SE R&B Doda Niaz Ahmed Banday said, “We have submitted Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the R&B Ministry regarding full restoration of this inter-state road and we are hopeful that we will get a nod to resume work on this important road link. Meanwhile, the road has been partially restored and it is motorable.
When asked about the cancellation of tenders, SE said that this office has never canceled any tender regarding full restoration of Bhadarwah-Chamba road, in fact, we are planning to officially commission this road within next few weeks.
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