Srinagar, Nov 3: At a time when the macadamization season has ended in Kashmir, are ghosts getting a street blacktopped at Batamaloo? Well, this is what one could ask when the concerned departments disown the odd hour job. The story goes like this:
 The ongoing blacktopping of a link road in the City’s Batamaloo area has come as a big surprise to the residents of neighbouring localities whose persistent clamour for similar “favour” has gone abegging for over two years.
 Even as blacktopping of roads all over Kashmir, including the summer capital, has been officially stopped over a week ago due to sharp fall in temperature, laying of bituminous cover is going on in Lane No 7 of Moominabad in Batamaloo area.
 This has irked the inhabitants of adjoining Lane 5 who have been urging the Roads and Building department to macadamize less than half a kilometre link to their locality.
 What baffles the entire area is that no government department or agency is prepared to own the work going on in Lane 7 even as the locals have sought a high level probe into the apparent mischief.
 Source said the link road is borne on the books of Construction Division of the R&B Department which as per them carried out soling and metalling of some links in the area last year and deferred their macadamization due to advanced working season.
 However, the department failed to execute the work this year even despite instructions of a minister.
 Meanwhile, on being told that blacktopping was going on in the adjoining Lane 7, the Minister of State for R&B, Javed Ahmed Dar personally peeped into the matter.
 Javed observed that the R&B wasn’t doing the work.
 “We have already ended the blacktopping season. R&B inst doing it,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 The R&B officials while disowning the ongoing work said the SMC was doing it.
 Curiously, lending a further twist to the issue, the SMC officials too denied that the corporation was doing the work.
 “It is for the clueless government to find out which of its departments or agencies is robbing the public exchequer to execute a work which, according to its own directive, is not to be done in the prevailing weather conditions and would amount to a total waste,” said a delegation of residents.
 “It can provide the chief minister the much needed feedback about how his moribund administration is functioning in the valley,” the residents said while seeking a high level probe into the matter.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Nov 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Nov 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 4 Nov 2010 00:00:00 IST