Majority of Srinagar roads in shambles, full of potholes

A Srinagar road in a worst condition. —Excelsior/Shakeel
A Srinagar road in a worst condition. —Excelsior/Shakeel

Irfan Tramboo

SRINAGAR, Jan 29: Majority of Srinagar roads are lying in shambles for last so many months due to the callous attitude of the administration in initiating immediate repairs at critical spots.
The roads, especially in Lal Chowk, are presenting a pathetic look, while those in the rest of the City are also craving for the official attention.
Near Jehangir Chowk, the official apathy is quite visible where a patch of road under the flyover has been rendered unattended resulting in immense difficulties to the people passing through the spot.
During the rush hours of traffic during the day, it really gets difficult for the commuters to pass by and during the winter season, the situation gets even more difficult as the people said that even walking through the road gets difficult at times.
“This is pathetic to see that the Government is not bothered in repairing the roads; it really gives us a tough time in commuting through the area and given the fact that this is the hub of the city—they should have taken some extra care,” said Feroz Ahmad, a commuter.
The bad condition of roads, not only gives the commuters a tough time, but it also consumes a lot of their time in reaching from one place to another. “This is not the only thing, as the roads are wet as of now, there is little or no dust emanating from them, let the weather improve, it will get difficult to commute on these pathetic roads,” said Bilal Ahmad, a driver.
Same is the condition of the road in Batamaloo, just few metres before the Fire Services Headquarters; there also, the authorities have not bothered to repair the damaged road. Same can be seen in the localities like Rajbagh and Barzulla where the roads filled with huge potholes.
In Srinagar’s old city, the roads appear to have been repaired ages ago. Though, there have certain spots where the roads were repaired, but those repairs did not last long.
The areas include: Brari Pora, Tarbal, Safa Kadal and Sekidafar Chowk. There is a whole patch of road from Sekidafar Chowk towards Eidgah where the road has been rendered completely useless.On the other side of the same road, in front of the CRPF Camp at Sekidafar, the road presents a pathetic look.
“We have a link road from Eidgah towards Brari Pora, it was, and it continues to be in shambles for last so many months now; few weeks ago, the repairs were made, but everything has remained hunky-dory,” said Bashir Ahmad, a resident of Tarbal, Eidgah, adding that only the pot holes were filled without macadamizing.
The road from Kak Sarai from Chhatabal which leads to Qamarwari is also in a bad condition. Big pot holes filled with water can be seen in the middle of the road, making commuting a daring job. The condition is worse right from the Jhelum river towards Qamarwari Chowk. Another road connecting the area to the Bemina crossing is also in its worst condition.
“The administration seems to have forgotten this road which is a major link road connecting one side of the city with the other; no work has been taken up for last so many months,” said Ghulam Qadir Lone, a resident of Chhatabal.

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