Srinagar, June 7: Inordinate delay in restoration of vital Dr Ali Jan Road is causing immense inconvenience to commuters here.
Delay in restoration of the road has become one of the major sources of traffic jams in city areas. Due to construction of drainage system, one portion of the road has been closed for vehicular movement—creating traffic jams and chaos at Eidgah and Soura.
“Travelling through the route is a nightmare. We are stuck in traffic jams for hours due to delay in restoration of the road. The office goers have been facing the brunt of traffic jams for months now,” said Arif Ahmed of Soura.
The residents of the area said that the road is one of the major roads leading to SKIMS Soura Hospital. “Patients and ambulances get stuck in traffic jams continuously. This is detrimental to lives of patients. Even school buses get stuck in traffic jams on daily basis due to slow pace of work on the road,” a group of commuters said.
“The road is in a bad shape and due to the closure of one portion, there are continuous traffic jams,” they said.
Officials of Roads and Buildings department said that the work on the road has been started and is going on swiftly. They said that although the completion of the project faced earlier delays, the work in going on at full pace and will be complete in a time-bound meaner.
An official said that R&B department was supposed to complete the road connection “but simultaneously another department had to lay pipes for drainage.” They said that this caused the delay.
Qayoom Kirmani, SE R&B said that the department has started work on the road, and soon the road will be open for traffic. He said that they will ensure that the road stretch is completed on a priority basis.
“We had to wait for another department to finish the work of laying pipes otherwise there was no delay from our department. We have now pressed our men and machinery and soon the road will be open to traffic. Early completion of the project is our priority and we will do it within a proper time frame,” Kirmani said.