Chhatral, Kalaban road in shambles for last 40 yrs

Broken culvert on Chhatral Kalaban road in Mendhar lying unattended for many years. -Excelsior/Rahi Kapoor
Broken culvert on Chhatral Kalaban road in Mendhar lying unattended for many years. -Excelsior/Rahi Kapoor

Excelsior Correspondent
MENDHAR July 15: The residents of Chhatral, Kalaban and adjoining areas in Mendhar Sub Division have expressed resentment against the concerned authorities for dilapidated condition of Chhatral road.
The condition of this road is so bad that most of the operators have stopped plying their vehicles on it. The road surface is broken at many places and the large potholes are posing a great risk of accident.
Locals have said that the monsoon season has started and the condition of the road is getting worse which may lead to any mishap. This road connects many rural areas of Chhatral which include Kalaban, Takia, Pathanatir, Nadol among others and the population of that area is in thousands including school students and Army jawans.
Locals informed that the road is under PWD and the agency is not paying any heed to make the road fit for vehicles movement. Several accidents have taken place on this road. Locals of the area including Zaffer Jatt, Amin Qureshi, Sayeed Khan and others have said that the concerned department has failed to undertake even minor repair work on the road.
They said that a big Nallah flows en-route this road, when the flow of water is fast, at that time people have to wait for several hours on both sides, in such a situation, if any accident happens or becomes ill, then the communication gets snapped. Even a Tata Sumo was washed away in flood here last year.
Dr Shzad Malik, Chairman JKBADC and former Vice Chancellor said that he was constantly visiting remote and border areas in which the condition of this road is bad for the last 40 years. He said this area belongs to many political representatives from here, but no one has paid any attention to this route.
Dr Malik appealed to the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, that a bridge should be built on this road so that hundreds of people living in this area do not face any problem.