Srinagar-Jammu old national highway was inundated at various places due to heavy rains for the last few days causing much inconvenience to the people.
As per locals, various spots on the old highway remaininundated at Pampore, Jawbehra, Awantipora and Sempora.
The potholes on the road cause much inconvenience to thecommuters. Traffic jams were also witnessed at several places due towater-logging, locals said.
“The bumpy road stretch becomes dangerous during rains aspotholes on the road turn into cesspools. The government constructed newhighway and ignored the old one, leaving us to face hardships,” MohammadYaseen a local from Awantipora said.
Sources said that the old highway remains regularlywaterlogged due to lack of drainage system. “The poor drainage system isprevailing due to lack of coordination between various departments,” they said.
Locals at Jawbehra told Greater Kashmir that the roadstretch in the area faces water logging even by the slight rainfall.
“The rains inundate the road and turn it muddy, which alsohampers the pedestrian movement,” they said.
“The road here is badly damaged and vehicles raise a lot ofdust that settles on our shops. Also, whenever it rains, the road getswaterlogged and hour-long traffic jams are witnessed,” said Abdul Raheem, ashopkeeper along the old highway.
The people expressed anger against the authorities for”ignoring the maintenance of highway.”
Commenting over the issue, an official talking to GreaterKashmir admitted that the poor condition of road is responsible for waterlogging. However, he said the road will be soon macadamized to give peoplerespite.
Another senior official said it won’t be possible for theauthorities to repair the road till the improvement in weather and rise intemperature. “The problem persists because of the absence of drainage,” theofficial added.