No one questions authorities who are responsible for planning and building of roads
Sehar Saleem
The National Highway 1A (NH1A) is a traffic horror story in itself with traffic gridlocks spanning on it at numerous places, starting from Sonawar, to Badami Bagh, Athwajan, Pantha Chowk, Pampore and so on. One of the biggest worry for Kashmiris is traffic jams and bad roads.
Being a regular traveler on NH1A since the last five months, I have seen traffic jams last for hours. I have seen ambulances get stuck in traffic, desperate to find a way out of the chaos, ambulance sirens wailing as if praying for some respite from the desperation.
These traffic jams can very well be the difference between life and death in such situations.
There are live potholes on literally every road. Live potholes are those potholes that grow in size with each passing day.
I have seen these potholes grow and multiply like malignancies, till they take over entire stretches of roads and make these roads near disasters for travelling on.
Add to these woes the effect of rains on our sorry roads. The recent spell of rains only compounded the problem. The roads that were recently repaired are already in ruins again. An example of the same is the stretch at Pantha Chowk.
This bottleneck is again clogged after seeing a couple of months of relief. Only a few months back this stretch of road was being worked on. Structures on the side of the road were demolished and widening of the road was carried out. A double lane was very elegantly put in place.
We thought our traffic woes might come to an end. But even now, when the work on the divider is still underway, both the sides of this road are in absolute shambles.
One wonders if the roads are being made with mud instead of coal tar, where even a small sprinkle of rains ruins these roads. It rains everywhere, then why does rain and snow damage roads only in Kashmir? This is one question we all know the answer to!
The worst part is that there is no accountability whatsoever. There is no one who questions authorities who are responsible for planning and building of roads.
No one asks them why the roads turn into ruins within the span of a few months, which leads to the whole process starting all over again. More constructions, more roadblocks, more traffic jams and so on.
Add to this misery the continuous and apparently unending construction of drains. It is an added blockade to the already choked roads.
The construction of drains is no doubt necessary and welcome, but ever so often we see the same drains being dug out multiple times. This again points to the mismanagement and ill-constructed plan of the drainage system and as always no one to question.
But let’s not blame just NH1A. Let’s give credit where it’s due, apparently apathy knows no discrimination in Kashmir.
The roads all over Kashmir, including Srinagar are in decay. Potholes galore, water logging is everywhere, under construction drains are omnipresent, traffic jams are never ending and relief is nowhere in sight.
There have to be some official guidelines for the construction of roads. There should be designing and planning for how the roads will last for the longest time. Are these guidelines ever met?
Road constructions in Kashmir do not merit approval on any level and neither does the material used for these roads. Benchmarks need to be set and environmental conditions should also be taken into consideration before starting any work on the roads.
Designing and construction roads carefully can reduce environmental impacts and can also avert the problem of water logging. It does not seem so difficult to build sturdy roads that can last a few years at the least.
When it can happen everywhere in the world, why not in Kashmir?
Well, we all know the answer to this question as well! Roads are supposed to be constructed so that they overcome geographical obstacles, not become obstacles in themselves.
Since this is a tale as old as time itself, is there any point in being optimistic about the new government doing anything, or anything long lasting at least, about these roads.
Author is a research scholar in Department of Biotechnology, University of Kashmir
