NHAI to take over Srinagar-Uri national highway from BRO

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 21

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is in the process of taking over the Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri national highway from the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

The 120-km-long highway, which connects Kashmir with Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, is currently being maintained by the Project Beacon of the BRO.

“Keeping in view the traffic flow and future requirements, it has been decided in principle to upgrade the Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri highway as a four-lane road. As of now, the highway has to be handed over to the National Highways Authority of India,” Brigadier Ashish Kumar Das, Chief Engineer, Beacon, told the Tribune.

The Beacon is currently executing widening of a portion of the stretch from Narbal to the HMT on the Srinagar outskirts. Out of the Rs 80,068-crore reconstruction plan announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the state on November 7, 2015, Rs 33,250 crore is being spent on upgrade of major highways in Jammu and Kashmir. This also includes works under the ‘Bharat Mala’ project.

Sources said a technical survey of the highway was carried out in 2012-13 to determine the feasibility for its upgrade.

The survey, however, only looked into the technical aspects of road widening and did not involve the compensation part as a lot of proprietary land will be used in upgrading the highway, an official said.

The survey had proposed bypassing Pattan, Sangrama and Baramulla towns, the official added.

The BRO, on the other hand, is carrying out widening works along the old alignment, with flyovers in Pattan, Sangrama and Baramulla towns to reduce the compensation component, said Brigadier Das.

The PDP-BJP government had last year taken up handing of the Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri highway to the state for “better upkeep”, however, following the death of CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed the talks did not take off.