Bhatadhurian-Manjakote road stretch has become a death trap, needs immediate blacktopping from BRO authorities; People demand a high-level inquiry against BRO

Bhatadhurian-Manjakote road stretch has become a death trap, needs immediate blacktopping from BRO authorities; People demand a high-level inquiry against BRO

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: The slow pace of work on the Poonch-Rajouri stretch of the Jammu-Poonch national highway has caused huge inconvenience to the people. Locals have demanded a high-level inquiry against BRO authorities into the said issue.

They said that from Bhatadhurian to Manjakote, the road stretch has become a death trap, but it’s astonishing that BRO has been ignoring the same stretch for reasons best known to the concerned authorities. It is pertinent to mention here that the said stretch witnessed horrible terrorist attacks in the past in which many army soldiers attained martyrdom, but it is sad that the BRO, rather than blacktopping the entire stretch, has become a mute spectator to the horrible state of affairs of the said road stretch from Bhatadhurian to Manjakote. Many persons, while talking to “POONCH TODAY”, said that the BRO has given a cold shoulder to their demand of blacktopping the entire stretch from Bhatadhurian to Manjakote, as the tunnel work on National Highway 144A on the Rajouri-Poonch stretch will take another two to three years to complete. They request the chief minister Omar Abdullah and LG Manoj Sinha to direct the BRO authorities to immediately blacktop the entire stretch as people who used to travel on this road face huge inconvenience.” It is important to mention here that just two months are left for the Shri Budha Amarnath Yatra, but going by the road condition of this stretch, the yatris are set to face huge inconvenience due to the extreme horrible conditions of the mentioned stretch.” Similarly, many people who used to travel on the Poonch-Rajouri stretch said that it’s a burning issue which has been ignored by the BRO authorities. People of Poonch have questioned the silence of DC Poonch, SSP Poonch, elected legislators and a sitting cabinet minister from the Poonch district as they regularly travel on this road but have failed to project the issue before the government in the public interest. No doubt, the work from Poonch to Bhatadhurian is going on in full swing, and from Rajouri to Manjakote, the work is also active, but in between, the road from Bhatadhurian to Manjakote has become a life-threatening stretch and requires the immediate attention of the government. Does the government wait for an accident to take place on this stretch before directing the BRO to blacktop the entire stretch on a war footing basis?” “POONCH TODAY” time and again raised the issue in the public interest, but the concerned authorities seem to be in slumber, as they might be waiting for unpleasant news on this stretch before rising from their slumber. The same Bhatadhurian to Bhimber Gali road stretch is a lifeline of the Poonch district, and it’s up to the government to make it functional round the clock, but the present condition of the stretch is so horrifying that people think a number of times before driving their vehicles on the said road, fearing accidents. Considering the importance of this road from all angles, it’s high time for the government and BRO authorities to rise from their slumber and blacktop the entire stretch in the public and national interest, as the disruption of this road stretch was not healthy from an internal security point of view, going by the powerful terrorist attacks in the same belt some time ago. People are eagerly waiting for the BRO authorities to act and are also demanding a high-level inquiry from the government against the concerned agency for ignoring the highly sensitive stretch till now.