Hajin drainage crumbling for want of road maintenance

Hajin drainage crumbling for want of road maintenance

Hajin: Local authorities in Hajin town of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district have miserably failed to complete a few kilometres of town drainage system for the last more than a decade, with the construction work completed so far is on the verge of collapse for want of protection and maintenance.
Construction on the mega drainage network interlinking ten wards of Municipal Committee Hajin was started in 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 11.11 crore as per official figures.
The project was initially handled by the town drainage department from 2009 till 2018 but funds were released in small chunks only. Although the work was expedited later on, but since early this year, the work has again slowed down after the project was handed over to the R&B Department.
The official further said that in 2018 Rs 9 crore was fully sanctioned by the government and the work was going on rapid pace from 2018 till Feb 2020 but since it has been shiftted to other department again the work got stuck thus giving tough time to locals in the Hajin town.
The localities where the drainage work has been completed on papers are Mir Mohalla,Syed Mohallah,Bon Mohalla,Banger Mohalla,Shukurdin Mohalla and part of Khos Mohallah Hajjin, but due to lack of maintenance, the construction carried so far is crumbling as authorities have left the construction work exposed without the mandatory filling of GSB(Granular Sub Base) on top making it vulnerable to an imminent collapse due to the frequent movement of vehicles, locals said.
Although the project was brought under the purview of the local R&B Department from the UEED some two years ago , the shift has hardly affected the sluggishness of construction work.
The locals are aghast over the step motherly approach by authorities saying the dilapidated condition of the roads through which the drainage has been dug leads to inconvenience to thousands of commuters on a daily basis.
Abdul Samad, a local from Hajin said they were looking forward to a drainage system with the hope the construction project will lead to better roads, but lamented that the condition of the road had gone from bad to worse.
The locals rued that all the inner link roads of Hajin are in shambles as the administration has failed to maintain them.
They said the drainage system is useless until the roads are not repaired.
The locals have urged Lieutenant Governor to personally intervene in the matter to mitigate their sufferings.
Talking to Kashmir Reader, Executive Engineer of the concerned R&B Division, Khursheed Ahmad said that they will repair the affected roads very soon adding they will try to complete the pending drainage work in the next few weeks.
We have sent the notice to all contractors dealing with the project and still there is no response from them .Khursheed said
Khurshid further added that the UEED, which was so far looking after the project and not fully handed over the project documentation yet which has affected the project badly .he said
Sub divisional magistrate Sumbal Bashir Ahmad said that he look into the matter personally and will talk with R&B department.

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