ALG Bypass in dilapidated condition, Rajouri residents suffer
The dilapidated condition of the road referred to as Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Bypass that serves as an alternate to the main Gujjar Mandi road heading to Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) is creating hardship for Rajouri residents.
The road besides connecting the southern end of ALG with the northern end also connects Government Medical College GMC Rajouri and Postgraduate College Rajouri with Panja Chowk and extends up to BGSBU with hundreds of students and staff taking the road for their commute.
Although the Public Works Department (Roads and Building) undertook a project three years ago for widening the road, the work is still going on at a snail’s pace.
PWD officials said that the administrative approval of the road from the government was still awaited and there was a paucity of funds due to which the work on the road was still going on.
The road is full of potholes and the absence of drains and the dusty condition of the road creates hardships for the people.
Existing Rajouri roads need maintenance
The maintenance of the existing roads in Rajouri and Poonch does not seem to be a priority for the government departments.
Most existing roads are in dilapidated condition.Some of these roads include Muradpur Road, Tandwal to Sohana Gali road, Highway to Katarmal, and Highway to Gambhir Mughlan.
The people living in Mankote, Mubarakhpura, and Palullian villages along the Tandwal to Sohana Gali PMGSY road said that though the road was blacktopped three years ago, the condition of the road was terrible.“Drains are lying damaged.
There are potholes everywhere. We contacted the concerned PMGSY officials a dozen times to carry the necessary repairs but no one bothers to listen to us,” said Sarpanch Yogesh Sharma and Sarpanch Muhammad Zafoor of these areas.
They said that according to the PMGSY, that road repair remains the domain of the contractor for five years but this claim seems to be hollow.
No swift response mechanism for accident victims on NHW
Although the Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch road was earmarked a National Highway with the nomenclature of NH-144A five years ago, the work on the four-laning of the highway from Jammu to Akhnoor and two-lane with paved shoulders model from Akhnoor to Poonch was going, the authorities had failed to put in place a swift response mechanism for accident victims on the highway.
The highway is the main connectivity between Rajouri and Poonch district headquarters with the Jammu provincial headquarters with thousands of vehicles plying on the road every day.
Despite this, no specific highway ambulance is meant for swift response deployed anywhere in Rajouri and Poonch districts in case of accidents.Not only this, there are no specific healthcare institutions meant for highway accidents, and the victims are only shifted in a usual manner to the existing healthcare institutions as institutions like Public Health Centre (PHC) Manjakote and PHC Bhata Dhurian are devoid of adequate facilities.
The locals are demanding the setting up of a swift response mechanism including highway ambulances with life-saving equipment and specific advanced institutions including Trauma Hospital at the earliest.
Vehicles increase but not parking spaces
While the number of vehicles is increasing sharply in Rajouri with each passing day, there is a lack of parking spaces, making people suffer.
People from Rajouri as well as Poonch district complained of inadequate parking spaces and accused the government of not paying heed to providing parking facilities.
Hiteshwar Sharma, a trader from Rajouri said that even after having a population of over 50,000 and receiving 10,000 to 20,000 commuters every day, there was no adequate parking facility in Rajouri town.Though the town is spread around 10 sq km, there are hardly 9 to 10 parking spaces.
“There is not even a single registered open parking set up by the government while hardly nine to 10 private parking spaces are available in Rajouri town,” Sharma said.
He said that around 60 percent of private vehicles of the town remain parked on roadsides, causing traffic congestion and leaving vehicles vulnerable for thefts.