NH a death trap for commuters: HC

Ishfaq Tantry

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Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 10

Observing that the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway had become a death trap for commuters, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday said that it believed that the existing condition of the road, stretching from Udhampur to Chenani and Chenani to Banihal, was precariously shabby and that the contractors concerned were not maintaining the said roads as per the required level.

These observations were passed on Monday by a division Bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, adding that it trusted and hoped that all possible steps were taken by the authorities concerned in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to redress this concern with regard to the ongoing widening of the road stretches.

In this regard, the Bench today directed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary to convene a meeting of the Commissioners /Secretaries to the government, Revenue Department, Power Development Department, and Forest Department and ascertain the difficulties, concerning the Government of J&K, being faced by the NHAI in the competition of the entire project, as explained by the NHAI in its status report.

The court further directed the Chief Secretary to accordingly issue all possible directions to the authorities concerned for the removal of the difficulties at the earliest. The court further designated the Commissioner/Secretary to Government, Revenue Department, as the nodal officer in the said process, asking him to place the compliance of the court directions by the next date of hearing.

The court further directed the NHAI Chairman to file an updated status report about the details regarding the pending cases before any wing of the High Court as well as the other subordinate courts along with copies of all orders passed thereon from time to time restraining the authority to proceed in the matter.

NHAI response

Udhampur to Ramban Section

• There’s been a delay in work execution because of the HC order in case of seven villages located on Nashri to Ramban section, and land was made available to the contractor from May to July, 2018.
• The additional land for Chanderkot bypass is yet to be made available as the acquisition proceedings are under process.
• Of 10 HT towers, only three have been shifted to date

Ramban to Banihal Section

• The land for tunnel was partially made available to contractor on Dec 9, 2016, and completely on Sept 14, 2017
• About slide-prone areas, the NHAI appointed an expert panel in its report that advised it to consider the change in alignment by introducing of a few changes after studying the feasibility