STATE TIMES NEWS
RAMBAN: Former Member Legislative Assembly, Ramban, Ashok Kumar reiterated all the contractor companies engaged in the construction of the road or railway tunnels, hydel projects and widening of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway (NH44) to give priority to the local unemployed youth in the semi-skilled and skilled jobs.
Expressing his serious concern on the growing inconvenience and risk to the lives of the residents of the localities along the NH44 from Patnitop to Jwahar Tunnel in Banihal due to the air pollution, he urged the Pollution Control Department to check the level of pollution of air in those localities and accordingly take action against the agencies responsible for causing the pollution.
He urged the district administration to ask those contractor companies responsible for the maintenance of the NH44 to immediately repair the road and fill all the pot holes and repair the roadside drains to prevent the water from flowing on the road.
He said that due to the damaged road not only the commuters especially the employees and the students going to their offices and educational institutions in the District Headquarter, Ramban feeling much difficulty particularly while often getting stuck up in the long traffic jams due to the sluggish movement of the vehicles on the damaged road stretches especially from 130 Km to 131Km at Nashri but also the vehicles have been getting damaged .
He asked the administration to ensure the early payment of compensation to those roadside shopkeepers or Dhaba Walas who will be dislocated due to the widening(4-laning) of the NH44 so that they could shift to other places to run their business satisfactorily. They are compelled to stay at the old place and facing the business losses and putting their health to risk due to the constant clouds of dust from the road.
