Srinagar, Jan 31: The slow work on drainage construction in Lal Bazar area of the City has put people to severe inconvenience as most of the roads have been dup up deep but repaired nowhere.
 The construction of sewerage system on one-and-a-half kilometre stretch of Lal Bazar-Hawal road is incomplete for the past seven months, when the work on the project was started.
 A New Delhi based construction company, National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) Limited, took up the construction in July. But so far the NBCC has only been able to complete “sewerage networking” partially, by working on the first two phases of the work.
 The third phase, which includes setting up of “house connections”, is yet to be taken up.
 The work is expected to take three more months to complete, officials said.
 Apart from the main road, lanes and by-lanes in the area have been dug up for laying of sewerage pipes.
 The construction is proving a persistent inconvenience for public.
 “The stretch of the main road from Moulvi stop to Botashah Mohalla was dug up in July but is yet to be repaired. So the traffic routes through narrow by-lanes leading to traffic jams lasting for hours at peak hours,” complained Ghulam Rasool, a local.
 “It’s for the first time in my 48 years of life that any main road has been in such a pathetic condition for months together,” he added.
 Waseem Altaf, a resident of Botashah Mohalla, said they have been forced to take alternative routes to venture out of the area.
 “The Botashah Mohalla road was dug up in June but instead of completing the work the contractors shifted focus to another by-lane rendering the area virtually inaccessible. We used to go out from Umer-colony route but over the months that too has been dug up,” Altaf said adding he has to park his vehicle, a mile away at relative’s place. 
 Senior officials in NBCC said laying of sewerage pipes would still take around three months to complete provided “there’s no distractions”.
 They said the trenches would be refilled first while the macadamization would be taken up later.
 “Initially, we were to restore the road to its original macadam stage but now that part is likely to be taken up separately. We’ll handover the road to UEED after refilling it and then it might be handed over to some other agency for proper macadamization,” said an official, requesting not to be named.
 The Deputy General Manager NBCC, JP Sheikh, said the delay was due to lack of coordination between various departments.
 “It takes time to complete the project because we have to work with so many departments,” he said.
 The Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings department, Nazir Ahmad, said they have recommended expedition of work to housing and Urban Development department.
 “There have been hurdles in the work but we have requested H&UDD  and NBCC to finish the work at an earliest,” he said.

1 DEATH SO FAR
■ In August 2009, people staged massive protests against the construction company when 75-year-old, Ali Muhammad Dar of Satbooni Lal Bazar died by falling into 10-feet-deep uncovered manhole.
■ Police had registered a case under section 304 RPC for “culpable homicide.”

Lastupdate on : Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 1 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST