Out of the total 84 kms length of Mughal road 72 kms road stretch has been macadamized and 5 km tunnel has been proposed at Pir Panjal to ensure round the year flow of traffic on this historic road.
Minister of State for R&B, Javed Ahmed Dar, while replying to a discussion on the working of his ministry in the Upper House today said that 72 km road stretch has already been macadamized. He said several important tunnel projects including 5 km tunnel on Mughal road has been proposed and the proposals have been sent to the Centre for approval. Three proposals pertained to Bani-Basohli road and Sinthon Top and besides in Lolab area of Kashmir. The minister disclosed that in order to maintain vital hilly road circuit including Basohli-Bani-Bhaderwah-Kishtwar-Anantnag and Mughal road, a proposal to hand over these roads to National Highway Authority of India has also been sent to the Centre for consideration. He said the State Government does not have much resources for the maintenance of these roads.
Mr Dar claimed that average road connectivity has been improved a lot and in erstwhile Doda district it has increased from 11% to 40.68 %. In Udhampur –Doda it was 50.48%, in Kathua-Samba 47.04 %. 61.90 % in Poonch and 59.39 % in district Jammu. He claimed that in next three years, the percentage will further improve. He pointed out that to ease out the traffic congestion in Jammu and Srinagar cities the work on important flyovers will be started shortly.
Referring to the PMGSY roads, Dar said this flagship programme of Govt of India has not shown the good desired results initially due to shortage of manpower. Engineers and other staff was deputed, even the separate Chief Engineer was appointed and the things went on improving. He said from phase 1 to phase 7, 1346 road schemes under PMGSY have been cleared by the Union Government. He said a special package of PMRP was also sanctioned to the State for development of its roads. Mr Dar claimed that in last three years major initiatives to develop a comprehensive road network were taken, resulting in better connectivity across the state. In Jammu and Srinagar cities, Rs 30 crores were spent to improve road conditions last financial year. For NABARD schemes, he said from this financial year funds allotment will be rationalized. Dar said department has also undertaken to complete certain roads and bridges which were abandoned earlier due to cost over run and unavailability of funds.
A total 12 members participated in the discussion and gave valuable suggestions. They included B R Kundal, Javid Rana, Naresh Kumar Gupta, Ajay Sadhotra, Bashir Ahmed Magray, Narbu Gailchan, Syed Rafiq Shah, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Jahangir Mir, Dr Bashir Ahmed Veeri, Jugal Kishore Sharma and Vijay Bakaya.
