Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 2: As a major breakthrough to provide “ease of connectivity” as well as all-weather road transport in hilly terrains, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India has, in an important decision, approved a new National Highway linking district Doda with Himachal Pradesh.
Disclosing this here today, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda, described it as a “Holi festival gift” from the Modi Government for the people of Jammu & Kashmir, particularly for the people of entire erstwhile district of Doda.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the request for the sanction of this project was being followed up for the last two years and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for having responded to this demand. He also appreciated the efforts of the Bhaderwah MLA, Dilip Singh Parihar who took keen interest in this project.
The new highway would link Thatri-Kahaljugasar-Kilohtran-Chachool with Himachal Pradesh via tunnel. The funding of this highway project will be 100% from the Centre and conceding to the request from Dr Jitendra Singh, the construction and the DPR preparation will be undertaken by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL).
The tentative length of the road will be around 80 kms, which means that the total time of travel from Thatri to Himachal Pradesh will be cut down by several hours. This will not only be an all-weather road connection, but would also offer an alternative link between the two States.
Expressing satisfaction over the decision, Dr Jitendra Singh described it as a major achievement for erstwhile Doda district, coming close on the heels of another major project linking National Highway from Lakhanpur to Bani-Bhaderwah via Chhattergalla tunnel, which has been included in the approved list of Border Roads Organization (BRO) projects and an effort is being made to pull it higher in priority so that the work can be started as early as possible. These two projects, he said, may take a few years to complete but, after completion, these will prove to be game-changers from the point of view of revenue generation, trade promotion and job generation.
Meanwhile, MLA Bhaderwah Dilip Singh Parihar today personally called on Dr Jitendra Singh to thank him for getting the Centre’s approval for this new National Highway which, he said, is a fulfillment of a major demand of the region after the earlier approved Chhattergalla tunnel.
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