Kashmir Highway Four Laning Project: Shailender inspects progress on Nashri – Jawahar stretch, reviews winter traffic mgmt plan

Ramban: Principal Secretary PWD, Shailender Kumar Monday conducted an extensive tour of district Ramban and inspected the pace of work on National Highway four laning works from Nashri to Banihal stretch.
He directed the NHAI to expedite the pace of construction work and mechadmize the existing as well as identified newly constructed road stretch as per set deadline for smooth plying of traffic, specially during winter season.
The Principal Secretary was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner, , Nazim Zai Khan; Regional Officer (RO), National highway Authority of India (NHAI), Hemraj; SSP, Traffic, NHW, JS Singh; SSP, Ramban, Haseeb-ur-Rehman; ADC, Ashok Kumar, SC, PWD Doda, Project Director (NHAI), Xen PWD Ramban and the representatives of the construction companies engaged in four laning of the NH44.
Shailender Kumar directed the RO, NHAI to submit an action plan of construction agencies to clear landslides, snow and deal with any other emergency situations on the national highway during the ensuing winter season.
He directed the construction companies to submit the detail of planned maintenance activity at all vulnerable spots and sliding areas including Nashri, Dhalwas, Chanderkot, Mehar, Seri, Marog, Monkey Morh, Panthyal and Hingni along with the list of machinery stationed and manpower deployed there to clear landslides and snow for hassle free traffic.
He directed the district administration to complete assessment cases of damaged houses at Dhalwas. The NHAI authorities were directed to expedite GSI survey report besides accelerating the process to provide them compensation as early as possible.
The Principal Secretary also reviewed section wise progress on the four-laning of National Highway including Nashri-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal sections.
During the meeting, the traffic management and NH-44 alignment issues were also discussed in detail. Keeping in view decreasing temperature in mountainous areas, agencies were directed to start blacktopping from Jawahar tunnel towards Makerkote on Banihal stretch.
The Police and district administration was directed to ensure implementation of decisions taken in the meeting and take legal action against the contractor agencies, which violate terms and conditions set by the government.
Earlier, the DC apprised that all bottlenecks highlighted by the construction agencies hindering the pace of progress have been resolved by the administration.
Later, the Principal Secretary also interacted with PRIs at Banihal, listened to their issues and passed on the spot directions to concerned authorities for early redress of the same.
Regional Director, NHAI, Hem Raj said the purpose of the visit was to rectify the damages on the highway during the monsoon season and adopt a proactive approach to identify the vulnerable road stretches to ensure hassle free movement of vehicles during the forthcoming winters.