The villagers of Matipora in Ajas tehsil of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district are up in arms against the R&B department for failing to macadamize the road leading to the village for past several years.
Scores of villagers said the passenger vehicles refuse to ply on the road due to the bad condition of the road.
They said the road had been left unattended by the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department due to which the critical patients or people having any exigency are forced to pay hefty amount for transportation.
“The R&B department repaired the road a couple of times but by loose gravel that did not serve any purpose,” said Mushtaq Lone, an elderly resident.
He said the villagers made several representations and requests to the concerned authorities to repair and macadamize the road but to no avail while the condition of the road went from bad to worse.
Nayeem, a youth, said the condition of the road was so terrible that poor were forced to lift critically-ill patients on the shoulders to Ajas market wherefrom they board vehicles while paying hefty amounts.
The locals also demanded that the R&B should also maintain the side drains on the road.
An R&B official said that the road was macadamized in 2016 but the last seasons’ heavy snowfall damaged the remaining the road.
“The road will be macadamized next year,” he said.