NHAI and R&B Dept both have no idea who is executing the project

Anantnag: More than five years after the NH-44 was thrown open for traffic, an overhead Railway pass in Anantnag district remains far from completion, causing severe inconvenience to the commuters day in and day out.
The delay in its completion has also left this particular stretch of the NH-44 “one-way”, and not in the best shape.
Neither the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) nor the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department seem to know who is executing the construction of this overhead pass.
The Srinagar-Qazigund stretch of the NH-44 was thrown open for traffic in 2017, after missing numerous deadlines. The superstructure for an overhead pass at the railway track, here in Battengoo area of Anantnag district, was constructed around the same time.
However, nearly six years later, there has been almost no headway on the completion of this overhead bridge. “Things at the site are more or less the same they have been six years ago, apart from some very recent activity that can be seen around the site,” local sources told Kashmir Reader.
This particular stretch on the NH-44 has been causing relentless inconvenience to commuters, every day for these past six years. “I am a daily commuter from Kulgam to Srinagar, and almost every day I am forced to spend half an hour at this spot,” a government employee who is a resident of Kulgam district, told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the incomplete overhead pass has rendered the NH-44 one-way at that particular spot. “And it is a mess, every time a train passes by, which is more than half a dozen times a day. So, if you are traveling on this stretch of the highway, it is highly likely that you will have to spend fifteen minutes or more at this particular spot,” he said.
Other commuters, public transport drivers, and locals in the area have similar things to say about the stretch. “It should have been completed years back. I am not sure what is causing the inordinate delay but it should be sorted out sooner than later by the administration for the ease of traveling,” a public transport driver told Kashmir Reader.
Official sources said that the delay was caused by some requisite permissions required to execute the construction. “A lot of time went into that in the initial years, when RAMKY was still in-charge of the NH-44. I am not sure what happened afterward,” a senior official in the administration said.
Kashmir Reader talked to Indresh Kumar, Project Manager of the NHAI in Srinagar, who said that he was not aware of any such project. “I have no idea about the project and don’t know who is executing its construction. Maybe the R&B is constructing it,” Kumar said.
Executive Engineer of the R&B for Anantnag, Javed Qazi, said the project has not been executed by his department either.

Suhail A Shah