SRINAGAR: The residents of a downtown locality in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, are repairing the dilapidated road on their own by contributing money from their pockets after a delayed dallying approach by the authorities for over two years.
Residents of Alamdar Colony, Abi Nowpora area in Khanyar constituency of downtown Srinagar say about 1-kilometre road in their area was in very bad shape.
“It was in dilapidated condition. The road was having deep potholes and we were facing a lot of trouble moving through the road. The rainwater used to get collected in the potholes and the locals had to wear long shoes (boots) even in summers to pass through the road. The ladies and elderly persons were facing a tough time walking through the area,” said a local resident Ghulam Qadir Lone. He said since 2020 they have been moving from one office to another to get the road repaired but to no avail.
“Finally the residents of the area decided to carry out the repair works on our own. About 800-1000 families reside in the area and all of them contributed money for repairing the road,” Qadir said. “People contributed according to the resources available to them”.
After the fund collection, the locals started the repair work and it is going on in full swing. “We have carried out soiling work. We will also be spraying the dust over the soiling work,” said another local resident Mehraj-u-Din Lone.
He said so far they have spent 2.5 lakh rupees on the repair of the road and the repair work has been going on for about 25 days.
Asked whether any official has visited the area during these days, Mehraj said, “No, none has visited the area. We are now apprehensive that the officials should not take out bills for the works carried out by the locals. We have to be on watch to prevent such things,” he said.
Taking a dig at the administration, Mehraj said, “Lt Governor claims that all roads have been macadamized. Not to talk of macadamization, the road in our area has not been repaired”
He said they had met all top government officials to get the road repaired. “We have met all the officials from top to bottom since 2020 but we got only disappointment from them”.
Mehraj said they also visited the local councillor but he wanted them to pledge that they would vote for him in the elections.
“We also met another top politician but to no avail,” he said adding, “All of them played with our miseries”.