Anantnag: Many interior roads here in main town Anantnag after being dug up for sanitation purposes by the Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) have been left with only a mud cover, as the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department entrusted with the black topping of the roads is still to do so.
The project under which the roads were dug up is part of the central government’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The project with an estimated cost of Rs 17 Crore was taken up in early 2018.
With the aim of laying a sanitation network, many busy roads and interiors in Anantnag town were dug up by the UEED, the executing agency. “The busy KP Road, Court Road, Gulshanabad road and others were among some major roads which were dug up and then left for over a year with potholes and accumulated debris,” sources in the town told Kashmir Reader.
After much ado, the roads were macadamised but not all of them. Interior roads in Kadipora, Sarnal, Gulshabad, Qazi Mohalla, Mehman Mohalla, Cheeni Chowk, Malaknag and some other places were only filled with earth after being dug up for laying of pipes.
“The project has left the interior roads in a shambles and they now pose a hazard for the general public. The lightest of rain showers leaves the roads slippery. It is difficult to even walk on these roads,” Ghulam Muhammad, a resident of Kadipora locality, told Kashmir Reader.
The residents lamented that the roads have become a nightmare for especially the elderly, who find it difficult to move out because of the condition of the roads.
“I have slipped and fallen twice. Fortunately, the injury was minor. But it could have been life threatening,” said Abdul Ahad, a resident of Malaknag.
Residents said that they had gone from pillar to post for the repair of the roads, but to no avail.
Sources in the UEED said they had completed their part of the project and now the rest has been handed over to the R&B. “We do not have a say in this now. It’s up to them,” the sources said.
Kashmir Reader talked to the Executive Engineer of R&B for Anantnag, Qazi Javed, who said that the residents will have to wait for some more time.
“The major roads have been covered but the work was stopped because the season was over. We will have to wait for April to commence work again,” he said.
He maintained that some solution will be thought of to make the roads a bit better for the winter season. “We will take some action in a day or two,” he said.

Suhail A Shah