About 18 km road connectivity between Bhaderwah and Gandoh via Jaie tourist resort has remained a distant dream for the people of the region for last eleven years. What can one say about the apathy of the administration and carelessness of the R&B Department after finding that despite availability of funds and other wherewithal, it has not been possible for them to bring relief to a population of more than 2.5 lakh souls in the area who have to travel long and circuitous distances to reach from either side of Bhaderwah and Gandoh destination.
A number of complicacies have emerged leading to the long delay in bringing the project of road connectivity to its completion. One major reason is the hassles in acquisition of land, which is usually the phenomenon with every big developmental project in the State. The second reason of delay that has come to our notice is the dispute between the Forest Department and the Revenue Department over the issue of payment of the cost of trees that need to be cut to make the road. It has to be noted that the road runs through dense forest of deodar trees and it is estimated that nearly two hundred trees have to be cut in the process and the Forest Department lays claim to nearly 2.20 crore rupees as compensation. This issue has not been resolved so far and hence the delay. Apart from this, there are reports of rivalry between political parties and leaders in the region that also leads to the clash of interests. It has also been observed that the project has been entrusted to two executing agencies namely R&B and JKPCC.
A number of questions can be asked. Why has the project been entrusted to two agencies which, as it appears, are not seeing eye to eye on various technical and non technical aspects of the project? Why the MLAs/MLCs of the region are not taking bold steps of compelling the Government to bring the project to completion. What vested interests are working behind the curtain that leads to a stalemate of the project? Why have not the higher echelons of the administration intervened in the dispute between the Forest and the Revenue Departments over the issue of felling of trees and acquiring the land from the owners? All that we will say is that there is slackness, apathy and irresponsibility on all sides that has left the large chunk of population in the area deprived and depressed.
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