BY MOHD MAJID MALIK DODA,MAR27– After reports of declaring the Assar Pul Doda road as unsafe for traffic from BRO there is an urgent need to look for a safe and viable alternative and to construct it with a missionary spirit.It is unfortunate that after washing away of 200 metres of NH 1B road near Assar two years back , people have been put to lots of miseries and hardships. Initially, NH 1B – considered as the life line of district Doda and Kishtwar – remained closed for 20 days after construction of the Baglihar hydro electric power project at Chanderkot.
Land slides and frequent road accidents send warning bells to the corridor of power and for days the state Legislative Assembly resounded with the debate not only on the construction of permanent alternate link but also about the accidents in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, which have claimed hundreds of lives besides rendering dozens disabled and orphans.It will not be out of the place to mention here that there are at least two roads besides Batote Kishtwar National Highway, which connect the twin districts with Kashmir Valley ie Kishtwar – Sinthan- Anantnag Road on one hand and Bani – Bisholi –Bhaderwah road on the other. Both roads are fare weather roads and remain close during the winter months due to heavy snow fall.
A viable solution to the alternate road connectivity to the Batote – Doda National Highway is the construction of Sudhmahadev-Sahni Kund-Marmat road, which will shorten the distance by 35-40 km connecting the twin districts with Jammu and long awaiting Doda-Dessa-Kapran Road connecting the twin districts with Anantnag in Kashmir Valley.Doda Dessa Kapran road is under construction and is complete up to Bemina from Doda side and is partially complete from Anantnag side. Tenders for the 10 km stretch from Bemina to Gaie Dessa has many times been floated by the PMGSY division Doda but no firm has so far offered bids for the same. As a result of which the division is not in a position to take forward the construction. It has been learnt that as of now, when one reputed firm from Hyderabad had opted to go ahead with the work on this project , chief engineer PMGSY Jammu has called the tenders afresh for reasons best known to him. If technical aspects of an alternate road from Sudhmahadev side is taken into consideration, one may see altitude of Sahnikund pass lower than the Patnitop but some business communities from the Sudmahadev side have been misguiding Udhampur for their petty interests. But it must be clear for the people at the helm that keeping in view the urgency of construction all out efforts must be taken into consideration before giving final shape to the project. People of erstwhile Doda district must not have forgotten the alternate road by passing Nashri slide, which had become a misadventure of the engineering staff. Presently, the construction of link road from Bargran to Roat is under construction under PMGSY from 21st km of Khellani – Goha road . It will not be out of the place to mention here that there is only one bridge to be constructed on the Raggi Nullah, which is already sanctioned under PMGSY. Sudhmahadev – Sahnikund – Marmat can be a safe alternate road if constructed in a missionary sprit to prevent it from becoming a nightmare like that of Doda – Dessa – Kapran road, which is under construction for years decades without being completed.