Shopkeepers pool money to repair footpaths
The renovation of the footpaths in Bandipora market has been left incomplete by the concerned authorities due to contractors abandoning the work midway.
The renovation work which began last year in May is still incomplete, leaving scores of pedestrians and traders fuming at the issue.
Being a busy market stretch, the prolonged time in renovation had caused serious concerns, with many accusing the authorities of a laid back approach.
The locals and the shopkeepers said that they had now begun to repair the footpaths on their own as the department had failed them.
A group of shopkeepers was seen renovating a patch of the footpath earlier this month.
“When the concerned department failed to address the dilapidated condition of footpaths in Bandipora, the shopkeepers took it upon themselves and started the repair work,” said FarooqAhamdWadoo, a local.
Last year in July, the officials had said that the contractors who had been working on the project were told to chisel the already extracted stones and lay them on the footpath, but they refused.
To get new chiselled stones would have incurred a huge amount on the project.
The department has now released a new tender for chiselling old stones and the work is expected to start after some days.
However, the department again said that the old contract had been cancelled as the contractor refused to work on the given conditions.
“We have cancelled that contract and the billing for the amount of work done has not been finalised yet,” Executive Engineer R&B, Malik Abdul Qayoom said. “The previous contractor demanded a huge amount which was not acceptable to us.”
He said that new tenders had been opened and a capable contractor had been allotted the work which was expected to begin soon.
5 Gurez villages plunge into darkness
Five villages in Gurez Valley have plunged into darkness after a fire damaged the diesel generator set in KanzalwanGurez.
According to locals, the fire erupted from the shed housing the diesel generator set following which the locals along with the officials of local administration, Police, and Army dozed off the flames.
As per the locals, the outlet cables of the diesel generator had been damaged, plunging the five villages of Kanzalwan, Naibasti, Chuntiwara, Jalindora, and Izmarg into darkness.
“The fire erupted from the shed housing the diesel generator set, following which we called the administration,” said Block Development Council (BDC), Bagtore member Mukhtiyar Ahmad Lone.
Lone said that the staff was repairing the damage and also tried to switch on the generator but it appeared that the outlet cables had been damaged.
Gurez Valley receives power supply by way of multiple diesel generators for which authorities dump the fuel by October and November before the road gets closed due to snowfall.
Set up SSB exam centre in Gurez
Scores of students stranded in Gurez Valley are demanding the authorities to allow them movement by foot to appear in the Service Selection Board (SSB) exams on March 6 as inclement weather continues to hamper the chopper services.
The residents of Gurez said that with the chopper services remaining affected and also being costlier for the youth and the economically-weaker sections, an examination centre should be established at Gurez.
Gurez remains snowbound for around six months.
The hope among the residents that the road would open sooner this time dashed following the recent snowfall and continuous inclement weather.
“Most of the students are from economically-weaker sections and they can’t afford chopper service. It costs Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 to reach the exam centre from Gurez. Gurez needs an examination centre. The authorities need to save the future of Gurez students,” said Aijaz Dar, a local.
Meanwhile, the local PRIs are appealing to authorities to allow the movement of students by foot.
“The majority of the Bandipora-Gurez road stretch has been cleared, and scores of the students have approached us to request the administration to allow the movement by foot,” said Mukhtar Ahmad, the local BDC member from Kanzalwan.
Lone said that he was informed by the district administration that almost “ten sorties” had been arranged for Monday, but “only one has managed to take off,” Lone said.
However, the student’s body has said the admin has turned down the request of he students to allow them to enter Gurez on foot given inclement weather.
“According to the authorities, no one will be allowed to cross Bandipora on foot due to inclement weather. I brought the issue to the notice of the Lieutenant Governor’s office. The LG’s administration assured that sorties will be arranged to airlift aspirants from Gurez to Bandipora,” said NasirKhuehami, a spokesman of a student body in Gurez.
Government Deptts still not paying water tax
The government offices in the Bandipora district that owe water fees to the PHE Department for years are not showing any enthusiasm in clearing the bills this year too.
Though the officials said that people had responded tremendously to clearing water bills, the government departments were still shying away from footing the bills.
According to the PHE Department, they have formed several teams of officials who are going from door to door to collect the water bills from the locals as well as the government departments.
“Our several teams are going from door-to-door and the appeals and advertising campaigns have helped us collect the water bills this season,” Executive Engineer PHE Bandipora, Abdul Khaliq said.
He said that there was a comparatively improved response from the people in paying the water bills.
“The people have shown tremendous response in paying the water tax,” Khaliq said.
However, the government departments in Bandipora owed around Rs 1 crore water tax to the PHE Department.
“There is a good response from offices as well and as far as I know, one government department owning around Rs 80,000 had cleared the balance so far,” Khaliq said.