Authorities were apparently unaware when a recently macadamised road was damaged by a contractor laying a Reliance Jio cable in Kakroosa area of Vilgam in the frontier Kupwara district of Kashmir.
Angry over the road dug by the contractor, residents say they had struggled for years to have the road black-topped but the hard won relief did not last long.
Official are passing the buck and did not know who was the responsible for allowing digging on the five kilometer stretch.
The road was dug using a JCB as the Jio cable was being laid by the contractor.
“When the road was macadamized recently we took a sigh of relief after long suffering,” said a resident among a group that echoed the anger.
“We are again facing inconvenience in this chilling winter.”
In August this year half of the road leading to this village was macadamized by Roads and Buildings department, but now it again dilapidated,” said Ajaz Ahmad of Kakroosa.
A supervisor of the contractor firm on site did not have proper permission for digging the road.
“We have been told verbally by the R&B authorities to use the JCB machine to get this work done as soon as possible,” said Imtiyaz Ahmad, the supervisor.
Residents say the contractors used the JCB during night hours so that no one could stop them, alleging contractor has paid bribe for using the JCB to dig the newly macadamised road.
“It’s frustrating to see well-laid roads being destroyed using JCBs. We feel helpless as there is no authority to stop them,” said an aged resident, Rashid Ahmad.