Centre steps in to address highway havoc

Srinagar : Amid growing outrage over the deteriorating condition of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari is likely to chair a high-level meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the issue.

Sources told news agency that the meeting will be chaired by Gadkari and attended by top officials from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The meeting will also be joined via videoconferencing by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, his cabinet colleagues, senior bureaucrats, and officials from various central agencies in Jammu & Kashmir.

On Monday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah spoke to Gadkari, seeking his intervention to address the worsening condition of the highway.

The CM had also slammed the Union Government, saying they should handover the highway to J&K Government if they cannot maintain it.

The ruling NC-led government has come under sharp criticism from fruit growers as well as from Kashmir-based opposition parties, including the PC and PDP, for failing to ensure the unhindered movement of fruit-laden trucks to markets across the country.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also faced criticism from various quarters for failing to widen and level a 300-metre stretch constructed at Tahard in Udhampur district, after the existing highway was buried under debris.

According to officials, the poor condition of this stretch is causing significant hindrances to the smooth movement of traffic along the highway—(KNO)