M Majid Malik
Bhaderwah
Despite being the famous tourist destination, Bhaderwah continues to face the official neglect in terms of infrastructure development causing severe inconvenience to the locals, hoteliers and tourists visiting the spot.
Roads, sanitation, health care and electricity remains in a messy state with locals and people associated with the tourism industry crying hoarse for attention of the concerned authorities. All the roads leading to the tourist destinations which include Padri and Jai valley are dotted with big potholes.
“People have to face a lot of inconvenience due to dilapidated roads. The sanitation at the scenic resort is also out of gear with garbage, filth and horse shit could be seen lying scattered everywhere around. Health care too is in a messy state with only health centre remaining devoid of all the basic facilities causing inconvenience to the locals,” a senior resident told Kashmir Life.
Saleem Sambari Beopar Mandar president discredits the claims of the authorities about the infrastructure development at the tourist place.
“Everything including roads, sanitation, cleanliness and electricity remains out of order here. The claims of the authorities about the development of tourist destinations and roads is nothing more than a big lie. There is no comprehensive plan with the authorities about the development of this world famous scenic spot,” Sambarai said.
Khurshid Ahmed Qureshi, general secretary hotel and restaurant association said that their repeated pleas to the authorities about repairing roads in Bhaderwah always fell at deaf ears.
“We several times approached the state government and local authorities which included R&B for repair of at least the link roads of tourist destinations and every time they promised but later detracted,” he said.
“Most of the drivers do not run their vehicles on this roads because of its bad condition due to which employees, patients, women and others face hardships,” Mohd Ashraf Goni a social activist said, “It has developed several cracks and water from drains and other streams are running on the road at many places.”
Local residents said that the condition of the roads in whole Bhaderwah was a continuous pain for people. When contacted chief executive officer, BDA, Bal Krishan, admitted the bad condition of the roads and said all the link roads fall in the jurisdiction of R&B and BEACON.
