Much awaited double laning work on Rajouri- Thanamandi- Surankote road started

Rajouri: District Development Commissioner Rajouri, Rajesh K Shavan today launched the much-awaited double- lanning work on Rajouri- Thanamandi- Surankote Road, an important project of the BRO, in presence of District Development Council members, Sarpanches, panches locals, officers of the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) and local Civil Administration.
Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road is one of the vital surface links connecting border district Rajouri to Mughal road and being maintained by BRO in Pir Panjal region.
A multifold increase in vehicular movement in the last five years on the single-lane road has been causing extreme inconvenience to the commuters.
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 region and other parts of the country and vice versa.
The existing road would be developed to two-lane which would ease the traffic congestion and also reduce the journey time. The road is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 284.22 crore and the work on the road would be completed within two years.
After sanction of project, it remained pending for 2 years due to certain bottlenecks. However, the Deputy Commissioner resolved all bottlenecks in two months and vigorously took up the matter with BRO. He also facilitated the intending agency and got the things materialized.
The Public welcomed the District Development Commissioner with bands and garlands and everyone was in a jubilant mood as the work on the most awaited project was about to kick-start. The locals appreciated the District Administration for meeting their long-pending demand.
The 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. He said that the District Administration Rajouri is committed towards 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 were underway in this regard.
He also said that the District Rajouri has a huge potential in the tourism sector and this road project would play a significant role in boosting the tourism and ultimately open avenues for economic activities in the district.
The DDC assured that the work on the road would be completed within the set deadline and asked the executing agency to maintain the quality while executing the 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 will also provide employment avenues for the local unemployed youth and skilled labour,” the DDC said.
Listing the measures taken by the district administration for resolving the public issues, he informed that a 24/7 grievance redressal cell has been set up in the DDC office where the people can call any time to register their grievances and seek redressal of the same. He also urged upon the public to get themselves registered under the SEHAT scheme to avail the benefits of quality healthcare.
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 31 BRTF, Reddy; Lt Col 31 BRTF, Gourav, Sarpanch, Panchs 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.