The construction of Doda-Dessa-Kapran road continues to hang fire for the past many decades, with authorities making little efforts to see that the proposal is through in the larger interest of the people.
The proposal was mooted in1977 during the Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah-led National Conference government inJammu and Kashmir and has seen no headway since, according to officials. Onceconstructed, the road could have linked Kashmir with several areas in Jammu,which were part of the erstwhile undivided Doda district, and provided analternate link between Srinagar and Jammu.
Officials say even the suggestions to elevate the status ofthe road, which runs parallel to Srinagar-Jammu highway, have been given a coldshoulder by the central government.
The work on the road was started in 1978 but abandoned soon.
After its completion, the road would have linked thedistricts of Doda, Ramban, Banihal and even Kishtwar with Anantnag district insouthern part of the Valley, and reduced the distance between Srinagar and Dodaby 90 kilometers by cutting the distance to 140 kilometers from the current 229kilometers through the Jawahar tunnel.
In fact, Doda would be just 45 kilometers from Kashmir’ssouthern end via Dooru in Anantnag district.
In the past four decades, the roads and buildingsdepartment—the executing agency for the project on papers—has completed work onthe 24-km-long stretch from Doda-side, while the 45-km-long stretch fromKashmir side from Anantnag was already motorable.
On the Doda side, the road is motorable up to Manjami inDessa area. It is also motorable till Hengipora-Kapran village in Dooru-Verinagtehsil on the Kashmir side.
It requires construction of a tunnel across the Pir Panjalrange to complete the link, said an official.
He said little has been done to start the construction ofthe seven-km-long tunnel, which was to come up near Gayi in Dessa.
The former chief minister Omar Abdullah had announced theconstruction of the tunnel after assuming the charge in 2009.
A senior R&B department officer said there was notimeframe set for completion of the project.
“Though a preliminary detailed project report (DPR) has beenprepared long back, the lackadaisical approach of the successive regimes hasgiven a blow to the project,” he said, insisting not to be named as he wasn’tauthorised to speak to media.
The official said the issue of approval to construction ofDesa-Kapran tunnel was also taken up during a meeting with the union surfacetransport ministry by the former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti in 2016, “but itwas not approved.”
Another official in the R&B department said the proposalto declare the road as a “national highway” is also lingering for long.
In 2016, senior Congress leader and former chief ministerGhulam Nabi Azad asked the government of India to declare Doda-Dessa- Kapranroad as a “national highway.”
“It’s high time that the road be handed over to nationalhighway authority of India (NHAI) or the national highways and infrastructuredevelopment corporation Limited (NHIDCL) so that the project at least sees someprogress,” the official said.
Local residents say the Desa-Verinag-Dooru road would besafer than other routes to Doda. A social activist from Doda, Naseer Ahmad Khoda, said the road couldgreatly boost the economy of the region.
“It would also strengthen cultural ties between the tworegions of the state,” he said.
The road would also have opened up a number of unexploredtourist spots in Dessa.
“The road was described as a dream project by SheikhMuhammad Abdullah. Even Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had been vociferously advocatingfor connecting Pir Panchal region with Kashmir Valley through this stretch, butunfortunately it has been marred due to political indifference,” Hussain said.