Shopian: Three years after work started on widening the Shopian-Bijbehara road, officials now say there are no funds to complete the widening or macadamisation of this 25-kilometer road which connects more than a hundred villages in Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag with their district headquarters.
The work on the road was initiated towards the end of 2017 when authorities brought bulldozers to dig up a portion, locals said. Since then, the road has been in deplorable condition.
Locals say that it takes them over an hour to travel 10 kilometers on the road, that too with closed windows as there is dust everywhere due to the road having been dug up.
In 2016, the government approved Rs 49 crore for the development of this road under central road funds (CRF), officials informed.
“We were promised a two-lane road but even one lane isn’t anywhere. There is only a bumpy and dusty path which leads to vehicle breakdowns and dust all around,” said Aakash Ahmad, a resident of Imam Sahib village.
The work on the road, according to official sources, was stopped for about a year when a tussle broke out between the Public Health Engineering department and the Roads and Buildings department for shifting of pipelines which were laid beneath the widened area.
When the dispute between the departments was settled after a year of deliberations, now officials of Roads and Buildings department say that there are no funds left to complete the work.
Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, a resident of Chitragam village, said that he along with other locals knocked on the doors of the Shopian Deputy Commissioner and other officials of Roads and Buildings department to repair the road, but they didn’t listen.
“I complained also about the use of substandard material but they remained mute spectators,” Bhat said, adding that the authorities have made life miserable for hundreds of villagers.
Locals said they now use alternate routes to travel, to avoid the dust and swamp-like condition of the road.
Executive Engineer, Roads and Buildings department, Shopian, Muhammad Ayub told Kashmir Reader that the department has no funds to complete the work on the road. When asked if he had written to higher authorities for more funds, he said that all of them know about it.
Deputy Commissioner Shopian, Choudhary Muhammad Yasin, did not respond to phone calls.

Raashid Hassan