Srinagar, Sep 12: The much hyped Dalgate-Zakura road widening project is not able to bear fruits due to apparently faulty execution of the work, which is going on at “snail’s pace”.
 The widening is going on haphazardly. While some patches along the road have been cleared of building structures, the areas in between continue to act as bottlenecks.

THE PROJECT
 The 10.33 kilometer Dalgate-Zakura road widening project, which started in 2009 at an estimated cost of rupees 336.24 crores is going on at “snail’s pace”.
 The road is one of the busiest in the City. And apart from being a vital connect to Shahr—e-Khaas, it’s a key link to Hazratbal shrine and University of Kashmir.

THE PROBLEMS
 The authorities have failed to provide plots for rehabilitation of to be relocated families whose land holdings come in way of the project. Since 2009 mere 80 of 332 structures have been removed so far.

DISCRIMINATION
 The people alleged that the building structures belonging to “influential families” were being spared while dwellings of the “have-nots” have been razed to ground to pave way for the widening.
 “Only those structures have been removed so far which belonged to the under privileged families,” the residents of Nowpora said.
 “Other houses and shops are not demolished because they belong to the owners having  political contacts,” they added. 
 They said the road was in mess as the work has been halted only because of the “influential people.”

OFFICIALS SPEAK
 However, authorities refuted the allegations saying government has “no plots left to relocate the remaining cases coming in way of the project.
 “It has become a main bottleneck in the process,” they said.
 The officials added that the compensation has been doubled from Rs five lakh, to six so that they can look for the land themselves.
 “Main bottleneck in the road widening process is that government has no more of land to provide for the rehabilitation of all the cases. All the land which was provided to the house owners and shopkeepers for rehabilitation has already been filled,” Chief Engineer Core, R&B, Mohammad Amin Takka told Greater Kashmir.
 He however said the project had again picked up following doubling of the compensation amount.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST