The government has set about renewing some 125 kilometres of road length in Srinagar while taking a multidimensional approach aimed at long term solutions to concerns surrounding roads in the capital district.
Officials said thetargeted length includes 100 kilometres that require resurfacing and 25kilometres which require full macadamisation adding that it stretches acrossdifferent kinds of roads including the national highway road and major andinterior roads of the district.
“Contractors’ strike held up restoration work on roadsin the district but about 50 percent of the total targeted work has beencompleted since work was started in June.”
These include a rangeof important roads including MA Road and IG Road in Tehsil South,Batamaloo-Parimpora road and Bemina road in Tehsil Shalteng, Natipora road andChanapora-Chrarisharief road in Tehsil Chanpora, North Foreshore Road and Nishat-Shalimarroad in Tehsil Harwan and the North South Corridor.
These also includevarious major roads in the old city including Eidgah road, Ali Jan Road,Khanyar-Zadibal-Pandach road, Nalamar Road, Syed Merak Shah Road and Baghi AliMardan Road.
The roads whichrequire full macadamisation and where work has been started include ZeroBridge-IG Road via Kursoo, Zewan-Khonmoh Road, Shala Naseem Road and BoulevardRoad from Nehru Park to Kralsangri.
“Drainagedeficit running into over 50 percent with a shortfall of around 600 kilometresof stormwater drainage — for which haphazard establishment of residentialcolonies and their mushroom growth is responsible and which leads to roaddamages from frequent water-logging as a result — is also being addressed aspart of the multidimensional approach to improve road condition as a longtermsolution in the district,” said an official.
The districtadministration has released five crore rupees to concerned executing agenciesto strengthen the drainage network at major locations of concern. Officialssaid that liberal government funding is expected soon to address the problemonce and for all.
In addition to thisvarious other measures are being taken as part of the said efforts.”Critical bottlenecks at different places across the Srinagar city arebeing removed for which about ?20 crore have been released to the concerned.This is alongside a host of important road expansion projects — worth anaggregate of about ?800 crore — for which funding is being released as acquiredfor taking up execution.”
TheSonwar-Panthachowk road which is a critical road being the entrance to theSrinagar city and which remains choked because of its large traffic volume isbeing decongested for the first time. Officials said the work has been startedwith the Srinagar administration releasing an amount of two crore rupees forshifting of utilities aimed at decongestion of the road.
“DC Srinagar DrShahid Iqbal Choudhary had detailed meetings with both the GOC of 15 Corps andthe CEO of Badamibagh Cantonment Board apart from approaching the DG BRO inefforts to address this problem. Concerned stakeholders later held a jointassessment of issues and requirements recognising the need to redressthem.”
Officials said theproject will see some 50 kanals of prime land worth many crores of rupeesgetting retrieved during the decongestion process.
In addition to thisdecongestion of roads at the economic hub Batamaloo which includes overhaulingits drainage network and expanding its roads has also been started — with thelatter to follow the former that is going on at present.
This goes alongsidethe construction of the Jehangir Chowk-Rambagh flyover and enhanced effortsover the past four months aimed at completing it within the new deadline thedistrict administration had set. The completion of ongoing work on the lastaccess ramp at Jehangir Chowk by the end of this month as targeted will markthe completion of the flyover project and the success of determined efforts atthat.
“In order toensure true achievement of smooth and sustainable road network in the capitaldistrict the district administration has also initiated a performance audit ofroads in the district. The aim is to determine the causes of the problem so asto nip them in the bud as part of the planning process and ensure Srinagar hasreliable roads laid with longterm solutions to unique challenges in mind,”the DC said.
He said this is inaddition to a host of important languishing bridge projects in the districtwhich have been resumed to augment and strengthen the road network. Theseinclude Mehjoor bridge and Bagh-e-Mehtab bridge which have already been thrownopen and at least six other bridges including Noor Jehan bridge, Qamarwaribridge, Wethpora bridge, Shalteng bridge, Darbagh bridge, Panthachowkfootbridge and Takanwari footbridge on which works are currently underway.
Meanwhile in response to several public grievances projectedin the recent past all the Public Works Department divisions in Srinagar havebeen asked to come up with proposals for improving interior roads and lanes inthe district. “The departments have been asked to focus on rural roads assessingtheir needs in consultation with the local residents and prepare and submitproject reports having been assured of quickest funding and execution.”
Officials said the the above is in addition to instructionsto all concerned engineers to propose innovative projects involving advancedtechnologies and ongoing consultations of the district administration withexperts from outside the State in this regard — all of it aimed at givingSrinagar the roads that it deserves.