Pulwama, Sep 5: The inhabitants of Pulwama have complained that the dilapidated condition of Pulwama-Pakherpora road is causing immense hardships to the commuters and pedestrians. 
 According to the locals, the road connecting Pulwama Town to Pakherpora in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district is in complete shambles as the authorities have failed to undertake any repair work. “The road stretch, which is at least 15 kilometers long, is dotted with potholes and bumps due to which the frequent commuters are facing tremendous inconvenience everyday,” the locals said.
 They said the passenger vehicles have to move at snail’s pace in order to avoid the potholes and bumps. “Due to the slow movement of vehicles on the road, the employees and students fail to make it to their respective destinations on time,” the locals said.
 They said the frequent commuters on the road have also developed orthopedic disorders as many times, the vehicles, they are travelling in, hit the potholes and bumps. “Their have been several mishaps on the road due to these potholes,” the frequent commuters said adding the drivers have lost control over vehicles many times while trying to avoid huge ditches.
 The road, according to the locals passes through the villages including Rohmu, Qamrazipora, Mitrigam, Thokarpora, Khygam, Chraripora, and Muran.
 The residents of these areas have complained that several people including the children have developed respiratory problems due to inhaling of dust emanating from the road.
 “Huge columns of dust rise due to the continuous vehicular movement on the road, which is responsible for prevalence of respiratory diseases in the area,” the locals added. They said that during rains, these potholes get filled with water making the pedestrian movement very difficult.
 The transporters have also complained about increase in the annual maintenance cost of their vehicles. “We do not want to ply on this rod as the maintenance cost of our vehicles has gone very high,” Bashir Ahmad a driver told Greater Kashmir.
 According to the residents of the area, the authorities have failed to repair and subsequently macadamize the road despite repeated pleas. “We have submitted several representations with the senior functionaries of the District Administration and the concerned department seeking immediate road repairs, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears and nothing substantial has been done so far,” the residents said. They sought the intervention of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon in this regard and asked him to mitigate their problem.
 When contacted the Executive Engineer Roads and Buildings Pulwama Division, Muhammad Ayub said, “The road from Rohmu to Pakherpora has been repaired few days ago.  However, the road from Pulwama to Rohmu has minor patches. We will start the work in a week’s time.”

Lastupdate on : Wed, 5 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 5 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 6 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST