J-K: Double laning work on Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road begins

District Development Commissioner Rajouri, Rajesh K Shavan on Sunday kickstarted the much-awaited double-laning work on Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote Road, an important project of the BRO, in presence of the District Development Council (DDC) members, officers of the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) and Civil Administration.

Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road is one of the vital surface links connecting border district Rajouri to Mughal road and being maintained by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Pir Panjal region.

A multifold increase in the vehicular movement has been recorded on this road in the last five years on the single-lane road has been causing extreme inconvenience to the public.

Being the shortest route to Kashmir Valley, this road meets the historical Mughal road at Bafliaz in Poonch district. Hundreds of tourists and passenger vehicles and trucks take this road to enter Kashmir Valley from Jammu and other parts of the country and vice versa.

The existing road would be widened and a two-lane road would be constructed on it which would reduce the traffic congestion and also reduce the journey time. The road is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 284.22 crores and the work on the road would be completed within two years.

After the sanction of the project, it remained pending for 2 years. However, the Deputy Commissioner resolved all bottlenecks in two months and vigorously took up the matter with BRO and contractor. He also facilitated the intending agency and got the things materialised.

DDC while speaking on the occasion congratulated the public of Thanamandi and said that it is a historic moment for them as their long-pending demand has been fulfilled today. He said that the District Administration Rajouri is committed to providing the best possible relief to the general public in terms of connectivity so that the sufferings of the commuters can be mitigated to some extent and several measures are underway in this regard.

"District Rajouri has a huge potential in the tourism sector and this road project would play a significant role in boosting the tourism sector and ultimately will open avenues for economic activities and of the district," Shavan said.

He assured that the work on the road would be completed within the set deadlines and asked the executing agency to maintain the quality while executing work on the project. He also appealed to execute the work on the project in such a manner that the routine traffic movement doesn't suffer.

"The project also provides employment avenues among the local unemployed youth and skilled labour," Shavan said.

He informed that a 24/7 grievance redressal cell has been set up in the DDC office where the people can call any time and get their grievances registered for their redressal. He also urged upon the public to get themselves registered under the SEHAT scheme to avail necessary benefits under the said scheme.

Among the others, DDC Member Thanamandi, Abdul Qayoom Mir; DDC Member Rajouri, Sain Abdul Rashid; Additional SP, Liaqat Choudhary; SDM Thanamandi, Zakir Hussain; President MC Thanamandi, Shakeel Mir; Col Reddy; Lt Col. Gourav, Sarpanch, Panch and MD DCIP, Nitin Tomar, Nazir Ganie; Maqbool Raina, Iqbal Raina, Hanief Kalas, Nazir Shawal, Munshi Khan; and other prominent citizens were also present on the occasion.

(ANI)