Bhadarwah: After a prolonged wait of more than 10 years, residents of Kulsari village Bhaderwah finally heaved a sigh of relief as the R&B department started black-topping the 1.5-km Kulsari road.
The road remained in news after the villagers stopped the cavalcade of Lt Governor’s Advisor on June 25 and informed him about the situation of villagers since decades in absence of road connectivity.
Sarpanch Kulsari Sajid Mir along with Incharge AEE R&B Bhaderwah Krishan Gopal, TO to Xen R&B Bhadarwah Bal Krishan and others kick-started the black topping of the Kulsari road from petrol pump to motorable bridge Kulsari, much to the delight of the villagers who had gathered there in large numbers to see their dream come true.
Sarpanch Kulsari Mir said, “After 10 years, we were able to see the work of blacktopping on the long-pending dream of our Panchayat.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the government, administration and especially the R&B department for starting work on this road.
AEE R&B Bhaderwah Krishana Gopal said that the road was pending since long and after getting approval from the government, they started work on it last week.
He said that under the first phase, they would be blacktopping the road from the petrol pump to the motorable bridge Kulsari. “The total cost of the project is 22.59 lakh and will be completed within 4 days,” the AEE said.
Irked over the delay in construction of the 1.5 km road to their villages, dozens of villagers of Kursari Panchayat held a protest near petrol pump Kulsari where they stopped the cavalcade of the LG’s Advisor on June 25 and informed him about the situation of the villagers in absence of proper road connectivity.
The villagers of Kursari, Lamote and Kapra led by Sarpanch Kulsari Sajid Mir were seeking construction of the road which was in a limbo for the past 10 years.
After the assurance of the LG’s Advisor to take up the matter on priority, the villagers called off the protest and traffic resumed on the Bhaderwah-Doda highway, which remained closed for 2 hours. The mater took a new turn when an FIR was registered against four Sarpanchs and four others in Bhaderwah on the demand of the road.
Following this, a series of protests were witnessed across Bhaderwah with the protestors demanding withdrawal of FIRs and fixation of responsibility on the officers.