SUDHNOUTI: A key road project in one of the most backward districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has been ‘shelved’, depriving residents of a shortcut route to commute between their villages and the main town.

The widening and carpeting of a 27km stretch of the road between the main Plandri town of the southern Sudhnouti district to Tangi Gala, a village on the district’s fringes, was approved by the now defunct Kashmir Council in 2017, allocating a hefty Rs1.35 billion to provide a fast and hassle-free communication facility to the people of this hitherto neglected district, local residents said.

The project envisaged construction of three bridges and culverts on several natural streams that flooded the road during rains.

The residents said the contractor had started levelling the surface using heavy machinery.

However, all of a sudden, work was halted after the state’s government introduced an amendment to its interim constitution, disbanding the Kashmir Council, terming it a white elephant and a drain on AJK’s exchequer.

Since the project was ‘shelved’, the residents have taken to the streets, and observed shutterdown strikes to get the authorities restore the project, but to no avail.

Sardar Farooq Arshad, a local resident, told Dawn that the Kashmir Council’s disbandment caused the contractor to halt work abruptly.

Mr Arshad alleged the then MLA from the constituency, Sardar Farooq Tahir of PML-N, was not interested in the project and instead wanted to construct a road in areas where his vote bank was strong.

Mr Arshad said in rains the road turned into a pool of mud, making it difficult for motorists to negotiate.

He said local people had been holding protests and strikes since the road project was abandoned, calling for its immediate resumption.

Sardar Wahid Arif, another local resident, said the AJK government had failed to press ahead with the project, citing misplacement of the project’s documentary record and lack of funds.

He said sitting MLA Fahim Rabbani claimed that a fresh tendering process of the project was going to start, which he added was a distant possibility as the government had no financial capacity to reconsider such a big project for a remote district.

Former MLA Sardar Farooq Tahir of PML-N told Dawn he had no role in approval or execution of the project since it was a project of the Kashmir Council.

He said the project was first approved in 2011, but was dropped. “Then the Kashmir Council again approved the project in 2014, and started work on it in 2017. However, unfortunately, the project could not be completed due to disbandment of the council,” he added.

He said initially, the project’s cost was estimated at Rs980 million, envisaging 12-foot width of the road. “Later, the project’s cost was revised to over Rs1.3 billion with the road’s width increased to 18 feet and construction of three main bridges on natural streams,” he said.

Mr Tahir said the AJK government could not get the documentary record of the project despite formation of a high-level committee for the purpose.

He said the project might not be restored as the state government had no money to execute it.

Mohammad Aziz, the public relations officer of the sitting MLA Fahim Rabbani, claimed the tendering process of the road project would be started afresh. However, he did not give a timeline of the tendering process.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2023