Bandipora: The work on the footpaths which was started by R&B department more than a couple of months ago in Bandipora town has been stopped midway, irking the locals.
The pedestrians and shopkeepers in Bandipora market have demanded that the pending work on the footpaths is finished as soon as possible for the ease of the public.
Several pedestrians and shopkeepers said that the footpath had been rendered useless as renovation work had been stopped by the contractors without citing any reason.
“A week ago an elderly man fell and injured his arm and leg. The boulders and material lying on the footpaths pose risk to the pedestrians,” a shopkeeper near NowporaChowk said.
The officials blamed the contractors saying that they had been demanding huge money for the chiselling of the old rocks extracted from the footpath.
“The contractors who had been working on the project were told to chisel the old extracted rocks to lay them for the footpath, but they refused. To get new chiselled rocks incurred huge money for the project. The department has now released a new tender for chiselling of old rocks and the work is expected to start after some days,” Executive Engineer R&B, Bandipora, Abdul Qayoom told Greater Kashmir.
He said the work on the project had started more than two and a half months ago and that a significant portion of the project had been completed while the patch near NowporaChowk was pending.