In 2015, the national highway authority of India (NHAI) started work on the expansion of 46 KM Banihal- Ramban stretch of the highway.
The Rs 2,168.66 crore project was to be completed by December 2019. However, five years on, the executing agency has barely managed to complete 30 percent excavation work. “The concessionaries entrusted with the job have miserably failed to execute the project due to their lethargic approach as well as financial constraints,” an official said.
He said for four years, the Hindustan Construction Company and the Gammon India could only carry 20 percent of the excavation work. Later, in August last year, NHAI allotted the expansion work to Chaudhary Power Project Limited (CPPL).
However, the HCC and the Gammon India were directed to carry on with the construction of small tunnels, bridges, culverts, and two flyovers-one at Banihal town and another in Ramban town. “Another 10 percent excavation work has been carried by CPPL,” an official said.
He said that even if the executing agency picked up the pace of work, it was highly unlikely the project would be completed by the deadline.
“There is a proposal to construct 800 meters each tube tunnel from Pedha to Chandrakote and other smaller tunnels at landslide-prone areas like Panthal, Khooni-Nalla, Marogh, Kela Mode, etc.” an official said. He said the work on some of those tunnels was yet to begin. “The work on bridges and culverts is also going at snail’s pace,” he said.
“The work on the flyover bypassing Banihal town is on, while that bypassing Ramban town has just begun,” the official said.
Another official said that the excavation work on the stretch was being carried being in an unscientific and haphazard manner with no supervision of experts.
“The faulty excavation is one of the major reasons for the frequent landslides which often leads to closure of the only surface road connecting the valley to the outside world,” he said.
An official said that considering that the stretch was already a shooting stone prone area, the standard engineering techniques were not being considered at all. “The executing agency has ignored the safety part and has no plan ready to tackle the weather vagaries,” he said.
“I fail to understand why proper study and geotechnical investigations were not carried before carrying the work on this difficult terrain,” an official said.
He said that as part of the contract the executing agency was also supposed to keep the already existing highway in proper working condition. “However, they have failed to take proper care of the road.” The landslides have left the stretch further narrow due to which the highway- considered to be the lifeline of the valley “either remains mostly closed or opens for one-way traffic for a major part of the year.”
The closure of the road results in depleting stocks of essential commodities and steep hike in their prices in the valley.
The stretch is also dotted with potholes and ditches making the journey of the commuters arduous besides leading to frequent traffic jams. The road also remains prone to accidents. The shooting stones consumed many precious lives in the accidents last winter.
“The condition of the road is so bad that it is virtually impossible for the vehicles to ply,” said Muhamad Saleem, a sumo driver.
He said even a small downpour or light snowfall leads to the closure of the road and the passengers get stuck en-route for days together. “The previous winter we witnessed many ambulances carrying the dead bodies to the valley, which had stranded on the highway for several days. Hope this time the condition of the road is improved to avert such tragedies,” said Muhamad Shams of Banihal.
Project Director, NHAI Ramban Purshotam Kumar, however, said the work on the project was on and would be completed by the set deadline. “We have also improved the condition of the existing road to a great deal,” he said.
The highway widening work was started in 2011 and it was targeted to be completed within five years.
The four-laning of the highway would cut the distance between Srinagar to Jammu by 50 kilometres and reduce the travel time to four hours from the present nine hours. It would also help the vehicles to avoid treacherous points on the highway.
The Qazigund-Banihal tunnel on the highway has already missed several deadlines in the last eight years due to the sluggish pace of work. Pertinently, the four-laning project of Srinagar-Jammu highway (NH44) has been divided into six sub-projects, which include widening of Srinagar-Qazigund road (67.7 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km), Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km), Chenani-Nashri (9.2 km) and Jammu-Udhampur (65 km). As of now, work has been accomplished on the first and last two sub-projects only and on other three, being carried by NAVAYUGA Engineering Co, HCC and GAMMON it is still lingering.