Major bottlenecks in expansion of Srinagar-Baramulla highway cleared

Authorities in Srinagar on Sunday reached an agreement with land owners including the management of a Gurdwara paving way for the resumption of stalled work on the expansion of Parimpora-Narbal stretch of Srinagar-Baramulla national highway, an official spokesperson said.

The resolution of the long-pending issues came during Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary's spot inspection and meeting with concerned owners of land and structures along the stretch, the official said.

The long, unsettled issue of relocation of the Damdama Sahib Gurdwara at Zainakote-- whose case has been in court since 2015-- was resolved on the occasion, the spokesman said, adding it was agreed that the administration would provide land at an adjacent spot and reconstruct the Gurdwara.

The DC issued on-the-spot instructions for processing the transfer of land and assured the Gurdwara managing committee of earliest reconstruction of the place of worship, he said.

He said the pending issue surrounding compensation to the owner of a petrol station in the area was also resolved.

The Collector was asked to hand over possession of the land in question to the executing organisation within two days so that the latter can resume the expansion work, he said.

He said the DC directed the power development department to speed up and complete the shifting of utilities before the end of this month.

The administration has released Rs 10 lakh to the department for the purpose, the spokesman said.

With the resolution of these issues which were hampering expansion of the highway along this stretch for the last several years, the Border Roads Organisation can now resume the work, the spokesperson said, adding that the work is expected to start later this month.