Delayed by over a decade, work on Banihal Bypass in full swing

Banihal, Nov 25: Due to the delay in the construction of the four-lane Banihal bypass, the daily traffic jam on the highway town has becomes a nightmare for the locals, shopkeepers, and thousands of passengers travelling daily on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

However, the work on the Banihal Bypass is in full swing now and the construction company hopes to make every effort to complete the work within a year.

   

The work on the Banihal Bypass is projected to cost Rs 224 crore.

Locals of Banihal said that the routine traffic jams and slow traffic movement in Banihal town due to the delay in the work on Banihal Bypass was creating a lot of hardships for the commuters using the highway as well as local passengers as they face difficulty in reaching their destinations on time.

They said that the school children also get stuck in traffic jams for hours together between Railway Chowk to Kharpora on way to school as well as on their way back home.

Jasmeet Singh, the Project Manager of MG Contractors, the construction company working on the Banihal Bypass, told Greater Kashmir that they were engaged in the construction of the bypass since January last year and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had set January 2024 as deadline.

He said that the 2.5 km Banihal Bypass would be constructed in the form of via duct and flyover and it had a total of 51 foundations (pillars) and 34 of them had been completed so far.

Singh said that the matter of compensation of landowners in Kharpora section of Banihal Bypass was in the court and now the issue had been solved and work would be started soon.

He said that the NHAI had set a deadline of January 2024 to complete the Banihal Bypass and if everything goes well, the company would make every effort to complete the Banihal Bypass within the set deadline.

Singh said that despite several challenges, the local people of Banihal were supporting them and work on Banihal Bypass was going on in full swing.

The construction of the Banihal Bypass was awarded by NHAI to Ramky Infrastructure Company over a decade ago but it failed to start the work and later NHAI black-listed the Ramky company and tendered Banihal Bypass afresh.

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