Raja Syed Rather
Ganderbal, Mar 30: Awaan Patti village located on a hill top near Srinagar- Leh highway at Mammar area of district Ganderbal has no road connectivity due to which a huge population is living miserable life.
Though more than a decade ago, the road under PMGSY was sanctioned which brought cheers to the people living in area but till now it has remained a distant dream for them.
Locals said that a survey team came to the village after four years of the sanction and completed land acquisition process in which the land owners provided their agricultural land with the hope that the construction will be started but nothing happened so far.
Last year, the construction work on the road was started but the compensation amount promised to land owners was not paid which hampered the work.
Locals who provided their land said that the land was source of livelihood for them and after acquisition by the government, they stopped agricultural activities with the hope that they will get compensation and an approach road but the concerned department failed to fulfil the both demands.
“The other effects of having no road is that the population is using horses as means of transport to get heavy goods from the market miles away from the village. The worst comes during medical emergencies when we have to carry the patients on shoulders to reach health centre for treatment,” the locals said.
Meanwhile, Executive Engineer PMGSY said that department has put forth the demand of funds for land acquisition to Government and as soon the funds will be released the land owners will be paid within no time. However, the official appealed the people to allow construction as the scheme has a time limit and after that it will lapse.