Srinagar, May 22: Contrary to government claims that efforts were on to widen the congested Pantha Chowk, a vital link to south Kashmir, the Beacon which looks after the highway works has distanced itself from the state’s theory saying there was no such proposal as the stretch lies in the cantonment domain.
 Simply put this means that the state government has seemingly been lying over the much required road widening, and that chances of any immediate respite are visible nowhere.

THE BEACON BOLT
 The Beacon authorities clarified that there was no such road widening proposal. “There is no such proposal of road widening from Pantha Chowk to Srinagar. National Highway Authority of India would carry the widening but from Qazigund to Pantha Chowk,” Chief Engineer Beacon, Brigadier TPS Rawat told Greater Kashmir.
 He said a large number of constructions have come up near Pantha Chowk as well as all along the route up to Sonwar hinting that the road widening wouldn’t be economically feasible.
 Pantha Chowk on the City outskirts, a most important highway junction, witnesses chronic jams particularly in the mornings and evenings and people often remain stranded for hours.

AMBANI FACTOR
 The traffic mess is so pathetic that nobody traversing the square can stay immune to it. Sometime back the government had to face severe embarrassment when business tycoon, Anil Ambani during his visit to Kashmir got stuck in the jam, and pestered, he finally cancelled his trip to Pahalgam.
 Sources said for the rest of the Ambani’s stay in Kashmir, the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah took no options but offered him the state helicopter so that there was no further embarrassment.

SONWAR ISSUE
 Sonwar-Pantha Chowk highway stretch snakes through the Cantonment area as a result of which a large number of Non-Civilian Authority (NCA) vehicles ply on this vital artery on a daily basis which puts tremendous pressure on this stretch of road.
 The state government had planned to widen the road stretch in order to decongest traffic between Pantha Chowk and Zewan a length of 0.75 kilometers. The tentative cost for widening road to 4 lane status was expected to be Rs 23.27 crores involving acquisition of land, structures, shops and development cost.

CHILDREN HOSPITAL CONGESTION
 Sources said the children hospital at Sonwar, situated on this road stretch is frequented by a large number of people including patients and staff posted there.
 “The parking arrangements in the hospital are very meager and do not suffice the requirement and thus lead to even more traffic congestion,” a traffic police official said.
 He said the vehicular traffic has increased manifold over the past some years but that the road infrastructure wasn’t accordingly improved.

BOTTOMLINE
 For the past two years the government had been frequently claiming that efforts were on to widen the Pantha Chowk. But for now the Beacon refutes the state government claims.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:00 IST