With an aim to do away with potholes to minimise the chances of road accidents and to reduce the travel time of locals, a massive drive to macadamize damaged roads have been started in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).The work will be completed by September end.
The macadamization drive is being executed by the Roads and Bridges (R&B) Department.
According to site engineer, Arshid Ahmad Tramboo, the project is approximately worth Rs 6-7 Crores and will be completed by September end. He also informed that the roads are being widened to 18 feet.
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"Earlier, the width of the road was 10-11 feet. Now we are widening it to 18 feet. The project costs around Rs 6-7 crores. Hopefully, it will be finished by September end," said the site engineer.
Due to heavy snowfall in the union territory, the roads get damaged every year.
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At present, the R&B department is constructing the road that passes through Ranbirpora, Ranipora, and goes towards Sunach village in Anantnag, about 10 km in total. They have been working on this for the last 10 days, informed the site engineer.
The locals in the area lauded the initiative saying that it solves many of their problems, one of them being accidents on the road due to potholes.
"People had a lot of troubles, there were accidents taking place here every now and then. We appreciate the work being done," said Manzoor Ahmad, a local resident who was present at the site to witness a first-hand account of the work.
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According to several locals, they had been demanding better roads for the past eight years.
Highlighting the problem of not being able to reach at the destination in case of emergency due to the bad consition of the roads, Ghulam Nabi said, "In case of emergency, it used to take an hour or two to reach Anantnag. Now, these new roads will lessen our travel time."
The locals usually come to see the work and also inform the road construction workers about any specific issues being faced, said Shabir Ahmad, a local in the area.
"I am very glad, now that the road is being widened and good quality of roads are being constructed the connectivity between the rural areas," he said.
The union territories' administration, with the funding from the central government, is trying to connect as many rural areas as possible to cities.
Meanwhile, in the Anantnag district, the administration has begun constructing infrastructures under the Prime Minister Development Project at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore in order to give tourism a boost.
Despite the COVID-induced lockdown, the authorities have allowed construction work in many places of the Kashmir valley following COVID protocols and under the Ministry of Home Affairs' (MHA) order.
( With inputs from ANI )
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