Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, May 28: Started in the year 1986, the construction of Marwah -Dachan road has been a distant dream for the people of the area, as the work is going on at a snail’s pace on this road for last three decades.
Being constructed by Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department, the road has not seen light of the day and its construction will take over decades as no efforts are being made by the executing agency for its speedy construction.
The delay in the construction of the road over last three decades has generated a lot of public resentment in the area in this entire belt as no development was possible without proper road net work in this hilly belt.
According to sources, the work on the construction of Dachan –Marwah road was started in 1986 when a Special Sub Division of R&B for Marwah was created and since then the project was not completed.
Earlier the construction was delayed for want of forest clearance, as some impediments were created in speedy construction of road on the name of Kishtwar Wildlife Park that falls in the area, sources said.
Sources said with the present pace of work it will take full one century to complete this 90 km long road from Kishtwar to Warwan.
The Government is not sincere and committed to construct this road and connect the population of over 50 thousand people of this hilly belt with the rest of the State, said Asgar Ali PDP MLC from Kishtwar.
He said we have stepped in 21st century and the people in this belt are in stone -age as there is neither electricity nor communication facilities in this entire hilly belt.
After abandoning work on this road for over a decade, he said it was again started in 2009 by this Government and the then R&B Minister, G M Saroori had promised to complete it within years, but five years have passed on and the condition is the same.
The people are fed up and despite the repeated pleas to concerned authorities, the Government has failed to keep the date and promise, said Ravi Kumar Thakur a local leader from Dachan. He said in last 28 years only 40 kilometres of road from Kishtwar to Dangduru was constructed to make it motorable, while over 50 kilometres of road upto Warwan is still incomplete.
The people have to cover the entire distance on foot and they face many hardships in shifting the serious patients to hospital and some times even patients die on their way to hospital, Thakur added.
Delay in construction of road has left the area far behind in development as maximum villages in Dachan -Marwah are without electricity, he said.
However the R&B authorities said the hilly –terrain from Dachan to Marwah creates problems in speedy construction of road.
The authorities said there are many slopes on the road from Dachan to Marwah and the department is every year gaining two to three kilometers.
The officials are hopeful of completing the construction of road within two to three years. However they said road from Kashmir Valley to Marwah will be opened within next 15 days.
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