The road leading to the famous shrine located at Ahamsharief village and tourist destination at Athwatoo village in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is in a dilapidated condition, residents complained.
The road has not been repaired since last more than fiveyears, they say.
“The condition of the road is getting worse by the day. Ithas developed huge potholes and it has become very difficult for us to commuteon the road between Bandipora and Athwatoo village,” said Ghulam Rasool Khan, aresident of Ahamsharief.
“The condition of the road is worse near Ayathmulla, CheckReshipora and Ahamsharief itself.”
The road leads to a famous shrine of HazratSultan-ul-Arifeen, Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoom Sahib (RA), located at Ahamshariefvillage.
“The road which leads to Ziyarat Sharief right fromBandipora is in a complete shambles and gives tough time to commuters. Theshrine is thronged by hundreds of devotees on various occasions likeShab-i-Qadr. Hundreds of people on every Friday also visit the shrine,” aresident said.
The residents say they have raised the issue of repairingthe road with authorities many times but nothing has happened so far.
They appealed the Deputy Commissioner Bandipora to at leastget some patchwork done on the road before Shab-i-Qadr so that devoteesexpected to visit the shrine don’t have to face much inconvenience.
Ahead of Ahamsharief shrine, the road leads to the famoustourist spot of Athwatoo in which is thronged by many during summers and hasattracted a substantial number of tourists for about a decade now.
Athwatoo is located on the foothills of Harmukh Mountains,surrounded by serene and thick forests besides crystalline water gushing downthe slopes.
However, according to locals, the road leading the touristdestination is in complete shambles due to the official negligence.
Commuters say the road is in bad condition particularly nearBilal Colony, Panar and Upper Panar as the road has huge cracks andpotholes.
Assistant Executive Engineer R&B Division Bandipora,Javid Iqbal said that the Ahamsharief-Athwatoo road has been approved under CRFas ring road last year at a cost of around Rs 8 crores.
“We have started repair works on other side of the ring roadnear Tanghat and within days repair work would be started from Ahamsharief sideas well. The road has been approved as ring road from Bandipora to Athwatoo onone side and from Athwatoo to Bonakoot on the other,” Iqbal said.
Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza said thatkeeping in view the importance of Ahamsharief Shrine he had already asked theconcerned department to start work from this side as well.
“The work on the road was going on from Tanghat side but Ihave directed the concerned department to started work fromAhamsharief-Athwatoo side as well, keeping in view the importance of the road,”Mirza said.