Srinagar, July 27: Notwithstanding the claims of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah that he is personally monitoring 4-laning of the highway, the traffic mess continues to prevail at Shalteng, a vital link to north Kashmir and the famed tourist resort of Gulmarg, as the road widening is on, but at “snail’s pace” while chances of completion in near future are bleak.
 Despite hue and cry over traffic chaos on the Parimpora-Shalteng highway, the road widening work undertaken by Beacon is on at “snail’s pace”.
 Everyday thousands of people including tourists travelling down the highway, which connects to the north Kashmir and Muzaffarabad, get stuck in traffic jams in the Shalteng stretch as it’s yet to be widened to 4-lane.

CONTRACTOR ‘VICTIMIZED’
 Following slow pace of work since its start in 2008, the government axe seemingly fell on the Kashmiri contractor from whom the work was taken back by the Beacon, over a year back.
 Though the contractor pleaded before the Beacon that there was delay on the part of state government in shifting of utilities like transmission lines and water pipelines, there were no buyers of his pleas.
 Finally the Beacon took over the work. But still, the work has not geared up. In August last year, the Beacon people threw the ball into the state government’s court pleading that the utilities had not been shifted, something which the local contractor too had been pleading.
 Thereafter though the roadblocks were cleared from most of the area, the work didn’t pick up.

PRESENT MESS
 Till now leave apart macadamization, even the land filling hasn’t been completed. As a result, the vehicles are forced to move on the congested 2-lane track, which witnesses huge gridlocks and billows of dust.
 Sources said chances of completing the Shalteng widening were bleak for this season. “Leave apart macadamization, the land filling too hasn’t been done till now… It will take a lot of time so there are no chances of its completion this year,” said an official working with the project.

THE PROBLEM
  Near Shalteng, the problem is that the 2-lane track provides crossing towards Bandipora road and also towards the Baramulla highway, which furthers to frontier Uri, Kupwara and even Muzaffarabad.
 Some three lakh vehicles ply on the highway everyday while the rush is most at the peak hours, the office opening and closing timings.
 The residents of Baramulla and other adjoining districts have often been complaining that their considerable time goes waste in the travel to Srinagar or back because of the jams en route.

THE EMBARRASSMENT
 Traffic jams have been so pesky on the highway that last year Cabinet Minister Ali Muhammad Sagar was seen stuck in the jam for around an hour. Besides former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayed and his senior party cadre Muhammad Dilawar Mir too  met the same fate. Mir and Mufti had to spend around two hours in the jams as their cavalcade could not get a way ahead.

GOVT SATISFIED
 When contacted Chief Engineer Beacon TPS Rawat  said  the work was going on  at fast track. "Basically  the delay  was caused  by the local contractor  who neither worked nor allowed us to work till winter of last year," Rawat said.
 He said the work has been going on at full swing since March when rainy season ended adding macadamization work would also be started soon.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST