Jahangeer Ganaie
Pulwama, Jul 26: The residents of the Tral and Khrew areas of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district have expressed resentment against the government for “failing” to restart work on the Syedabad-Wahab Sahab stretch, which was started nine years ago.
Locals from these hamlets said that the eight-kilometre stretch with an estimated cost of around Rs 16 crore was supposed to connect the Syedabad Pastuna area of Tral to Wahab Sahab Shaar of Pampore tehsil of Pulwama.
The road will be the shortcut way for the people of Tral towards Pampore, and also reduce travelling time from Tral to Srinagar as well and vice versa, they said.
According to the locals, the foundation stone of the road was laid in the year 2015 by then MLA Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, but the work was started due to unknown reasons.
Umar Ahmad, a resident of Pastuna, said there has been no work on the road for the last nine years and the people of the area have been waiting for the completion of this vital project which is going to connect Tral directly with Khrew, Pampore bypassing Awantipora.
With the completion of this stretch, the people of over a dozen villages will benefit and it will help in bringing this picturesque area on the tourism map, Umar said.
The locals said they have brought this issue to the notice of the concerned authorities several times but to no avail. They requested the higher-ups to look into the matter and resume work on the vital road.
Meanwhile, according to a senior R&B official; earlier, the Forest Department was not giving NOC for construction of this road and later, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of around Rs 26 crore was submitted for its construction which isn’t approved yet.
“Once the DPR is approved, the construction of the road will resume,” the official, wishing anonymity, said.
