Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, May 8: The much awaited Parimpora-Narbal road widening project which had been lingering on from past ten years has been hit by two new bottlenecks in the form of a Gurudwara and a petrol pump as Government has failed to negotiate their relocation.
With a project cost of nearly Rs 400 crore, the State Government in 2005 set an ambitious target of widening 7.5 kilometres road stretch from Parimpora to Narbal in order to streamline the vehicular movement.
In 2007, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) issued funds for the compensation of the affected shopkeepers and houses but ten years have gone by and the local administration has not been able to ‘clear the land’ thereby ‘unnecessarily delaying’ the project.
President of Dum Duma Sahib Gurdwara, Mahinder Paul Singh, said the Gurudwara, which is one of the bottlenecks, is not a business establishment that can be installed anywhere and demanded land for the same within the community. “It should be within our community. We are ready to vacate if Government gives us land within our neighbourhood. Earlier Beacon told us that they will take an alternate route and will spare our Gurudwara but then they didn’t. There are some 40-50 kanals of vacant land here but Government is not giving the owner enough money. Who listens to minorities here?” he said.
The owner of petrol pump, Javaid Ashai, accused Government of double standards and alleged discrimination. “Why don’t they rehabilitate us the way they have rehabilitated the petrol pump owners who came in various road widening projects. Recently a petrol pump at Jammu, which was operating on leased land whose lease had expired, was rehabilitated on the other side of road. I have my own land why cannot they rehabilitate me on same lines,” he asked.
When contacted, the Assistant Commissioner Srinagar, Hamidullah Mir, told Excelsior that the matter is sub-judice and that’s why they have not moved ahead with the rehabilitation. “We would have spotted and allocated an alternate land but matter is sub judice so we have to wait for the Court decision. But in the recently held high level meeting we have notified some land for them and it will be granted accordingly after assessment of damage and compensation is done. If we manage to break a deal early with the different stakeholders, bottlenecks will be removed,” he said.
An official at Border Roads Organisation (BRO), when asked why did it took ten years to widen just seven kilometres of road, blamed local administration for being “abysmal”. “They could not clear the road for us despite having funds required for rehabilitation and relocation. There is no communication between different departments here. It is a rogue State. But hopefully the project will be complete by the end of 2016,” he said.
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