Batote NH faces threat from Baglihar dam, govt apathetic

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 21

The Centre and the J&K Government are not doing much to improve the condition of the 110-km-long Batote-Kishtwar national highway which is facing a threat from the Baglihar hydroelectric project reservoir.

Many villages in both districts have already been declared unsafe after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake on May 1, 2013, which was followed by over 100 aftershocks.

The Baglihar hydroelectric project reservoir, instead of helping in development of the erstwhile Doda district, has become a curse for people.

The stagnant water of the reservoir, after seeping into the loose soil, is bringing down rocks and soil slowly, which could ultimately lead to sinking of huge portions of mountains.

Geological experts have already alarmed the state government of a possible disaster due to the reservoir but the successive governments have ignored all recommendations and taken no measures to stop the sinking of land.

The highway has not been blacktopped for the past 10 years. Recently, the maintenance of the highway was given to the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) but it was told to take up work in patches till a new detailed project report (DPR) for an alternate route via Sudhmahadev-Marmat was prepared. This has yet again exposed the indifference of the Centre and the state government.

“Our current contract of maintenance is only up to December 2017 and we have to clear landslides, construct protection walls and macadamise a few damaged stretches on the highway,” said Piyush Kumar, an official of the NHIDCL.

He said there was no communication from either the state or Central governments over starting work on the whole highway, which was in a bad shape and required huge money to stabilise.

MLA from Inderwal Ghulam Muhammad Saroori had approached both state and Central governments so as the road problems would be addressed, but no action has been taken so far.