Srinagar, May 8: Despite two successive orders to start double shift for speedy construction of drain on the Airport Road, which is in a mess for the past over a fortnight, the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) has failed to adhere to the directives –putting a question mark on accountability in the coalition government.
 Since April, the ERA has been reluctant not to reduce timeframe for completion of work on the Airport Road stretch even though mess on the VIP road has brought severe embarrassment for the state government.
 The project executing agency stands by its word of completing the work not before May 20, despite the government diktats. Last night at 10 PM Greater Kashmir team again visited the site and found that no work was going on.
 The ERA officials said the work was “temporarily suspended to give setting time to the newly laid drain.” They insisted that the work was going on speedily.

DOUBLE ORDERS
 First to issue the order was Divisional Commissioner Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon who on April 26 directed them to start double shift on immediate basis. Greater Kashmir in a follow-up story, however, exposed that no double-shift was going on.
 The ERA at first tried to pretend that the work “starts early in the morning at 7AM and continues till late so there was no need of double shift.” But this too proved a hoax when Greater Kashmir team visited the area only to capture evidence in camera that the work wasn’t starting early.
Thereafter, while the Divisional Commissioner seems to have avoided to dig up the matter, till MoS Home, H&UDD and Tourism, Nasir Sogami intervened and came up with the fresh directives on May 3.
 Chairing a high level meeting, Sogami had directed the ERA to start double shift.

THE INCONVENIENCE
 Pertinently, the closure of the Airport Road just at the start tourist season has put the National Conference led government to severe embarrassment as the first impression of Kashmir which the visitors get is of a back breaking journey on a Kacha road.
 Due to the ongoing construction work all the Srinagar bound vehicles from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district and the Srinagar International Airport are being diverted towards a Kacha Road. Only the VIPs including ministers and senior officials are allowed to drive straight on the Airport Road.
 The diversion is putting the travelers to inconvenience as the link road, which connects to the Airport Road with another macadamized road is in a typically bad condition. The staff starved traffic police department, on the other hand, finds it inconvenient to regulate smooth flow of vehicles.

THE BLUFFING
 Call it jugglery of words or bluffing but a dissection of the official handout about the May 3 meeting reveals that ERA didn’t change its stand on work completion even by an inch.
 The meeting chaired by Sogami who is also the local MLA, resolved that following double shift, the work would be completed early. But in reality the deadline fixed for it remained the same: May 20 upto Post Office Lane, Hyderpora.
 This deadline was the same as voiced by the ERA officials on April 20 when they said the work couldn’t be completed before May 20.
 This raises a simple question. What impact did the Sogami’s intervention have on the Airport Road mess keeping in view that neither the double shift was started nor the deadline reviewed.
 With this being the scene on the plush road frequented by VIPs including Chief Minister, Omer Abdullah, the plight elsewhere could only be imagined.

THE BUND
 If the Airport Road is in a mess for a few weeks, the Bund is in typically bad condition for the past over a year.
 Valley’s famed walkway known since the British Residency era in Kashmir was dug up by ERA for laying of pipeline coming from Nishat to Magarmal Bagh, but never repaired properly.
 While the people avoid walking on the dilapidated Bund, its worsening condition is causing inconvenience to the residents of areas like Court Road near the City centre of Lal Chowk.
 In the recent event a middle aged woman was wounded when she slipped on the uneven Bund in the rear of Ahdoos Hotel on Saturday.
 “My leg was almost broken. This is a curse to see famous walkway in shambles,” the woman, an erstwhile resident of Dalgate, told Greater Kashmir.
 Turning nostalgic she said: “In my childhood we would love to see foreign tourists feeling privileged to walk on the Bund and do shopping there but now its all in a mess.”
 Ironically, same is the aftermath of drainage work in Hyderpora suburb where roads in areas like Lal Ded, Gulberg and Shah Anwar continue to be shambles.

‘SNAIL’S PACE’
 Ironically, prestigious projects worth crores of rupees undertaken by ERA like the drainage project for south City and augmentation of water supply line from Nishat have missed several deadlines to over double the prescribed time span.
 The Rs 37 odd crore drainage project started in June 2007 was slated to be completed in 18 months, is still incomplete. Same is the case with the Nishat filtration pipeline, which has left the plush Bund in shambles.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 8 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 May 2011 00:00:00 IST