District administration acts strict, orders FIR against defaulter contractors
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU/KISHTWAR, Nov 4: Believe it or not, the militancy infested Kuntwara, which witnessed massacres in the past with killing of two village defence guards last year itself, in the mountainous Kishtwar district, is still without road connectivity even after the 78 years of independence of the country and the movement of troops to counter terrorist activities in this area is always badly affected in the absence of the road.
Under this dark scenario, a positive development has taken place and acting tough against the poor performance by the contractors responsible for the road construction in the area, the district administration of Kishtwar has asked the district Police head to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against such contractors for non-performance and deliberate inaction.
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Victims of apathy, the residents of Kuntwara area repeatedly visited the offices of the district administration Kishtwar and raised the concern regarding the road.
They complained against the inordinate and unexplained delay in the execution of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) road from Kandni to Ohli (Part-I and II) in Tehsil Drabshalla as the delay has caused severe inconvenience and hardship to the general public of the region.
Sources informed that the work on Part-I of the road was allotted to M/s Sharma Construction in March 2021 and Part-II to M/s Kasana Brothers in November 2017 but the road projects have been pending for an unreasonably long period.
Few days back, a letter (dated October 31, 2025) from the Additional District Magistrate, Kishtwar to SSP Kishtwar stated that despite repeated directions and sufficient time granted by the competent authorities, both the contractors have failed to mobilize adequate resources, resulting in unsatisfactory and negligible progress on the ground.
“Keeping in view the larger public interest and continuing hardship faced by the inhabitants of the areas, I am directed to request you to kindly register an FIR against the defaulting contractors M/s Sharma Construction (Part-I) and M/s Kasana Brothers (Part-II) under the appropriate penal provisions for wilful breach of contract, deliberate negligence, disobedience of lawful orders and causing public hardship,” the letter to the SSP further stated adding: “The matter pertains to a project of significant public importance, and as such, it warrants immediate legal action to ensure accountability and deterrence against such gross misconduct in public works.”
Highly reliable sources in district administration Kishtwar informed that the road construction work started about eight years back after the firms M/s Sharma Construction and M/s Kasana Brothers secured the tenders but they stopped the work all of a sudden and were blacklisted but somehow they managed things and continued and also took the concerned authorities in district administration into confidence.
“It is only a stretch of 800 metre road from Kandni to Ohli (Part-I and II) completion of which will ensure connectivity of the entire area and the public will be facilitated,” they informed.
More sources informed that the authorities concerned also terminated the contacts but as the termination order reached Civil Secretariat, the contractors managed it from there also and got the cancellation revoked for their benefits.
Sources also informed that the firm ‘Sharma Construction’ is run by a sitting MLA from Kishtwar district and the contracts are being run by his brothers at present with full support of the legislator.
However, no FIR was lodged against the contractors till last reports.
Sources close to the legislator informed that he has secured massive loans from different banks but presently he is not in the condition to repay the amount and he even has no sufficient money to start the road construction work.
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