FROM NH-1A TO NH-44: Lifeline on life support
Banihal, Sep 20: More than a decade after its launch, the ambitious Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH-44) four-laning project continues to grapple with delays, spiralling costs, environmental violations, and recurring natural disasters.
Conceived as a modern, all-weather lifeline for Jammu and Kashmir, the project has instead become synonymous with damaged stretches, collapsed bridges, and mounting public frustration.
Approved by the Centre in 2009-10, the plan was to upgrade the treacherous NH-1A into NH-44, transforming it into a four-lane expressway.
The most challenging segments, Udhampur-Ramban (41 km) and Ramban-Banihal (36 km), were finally awarded and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 after several failed tender bidding rounds.
Initially estimated at Rs 3300 crore, costs have since ballooned to over Rs 7500 crore, owing to new tunneling and viaduct and flyover projects, repeated delays, landslides, and NGT’s mandated environmental safeguards.
FRAGILE TERRAIN, FRESH DAMAGE
Engineers associated with the project, who wish not to be named, describe the Udhampur-Banihal sector as one of India’s toughest terrains, flanked by the Chenab and Tawi rivers, steep cliffs, and fragile mountains prone to incessant rainfall, snowfall, and landslides.
The August-September 2025 monsoon once again exposed these vulnerabilities, washing away newly-built stretches and damaging bridges between the Udhampur and Chenani sectors.
For nearly two weeks, traffic between Udhampur and Banihal remained suspended, leaving thousands stranded, triggering shortages of fuel and essentials in Kashmir and Chenab Valley.
Apple growers and traders bore heavy losses as truckloads of apple fruit were delayed during the peak harvest season.
ENVIRONMENTAL, LEGAL BATTLES
The project has also been mired in legal challenges over environmental violations.
Amresh Singh, a resident of highway village Karool, Ramban, said that he had approached the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and contractors in 2016-17 to stop debris dumping into the River Chenab and Tawi, but his pleas were ignored, forcing him to file a case before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2017 through Advocate Swarn Kishore Singh of Ramban and a J&K High Court lawyer.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Advocate Singh said that the tribunal’s orders prompted a reappraisal of engineering strategy.
“Following our petition, the NGT directed geological surveys through the HoD of the civil engineering department of IIT Mumbai, which recommended tunneling instead of extensive hill cutting in the Ramban-Banihal sector. This led to several tunnels being constructed between 2021 and 2022.”
The NGT also imposed heavy penalties on contractors Gammon India Ltd and Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) for indiscriminate muck dumping, initially Rs 2 crore each, later escalating to Rs 139 crore.
“Gammon India paid Rs 71 crore, but HCC defaulted and was blacklisted by NHAI,” Singh said.
Despite this, allegations of reckless blasting and continued violations persist.
Advocate Singh confirmed that an execution petition was filed with the NGT earlier this year, pressing for stricter enforcement.
CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
With fresh damage this monsoon, Singh said he was preparing a petition in the Jammu wing of J&K High Court, seeking a comprehensive safety audit of NH-44 and its bridges.
The petition will also challenge the legality of toll collection on a highway “whose condition severely restricts safe travel and suffers frequent closures.”
Lawyers are demanding an independent monitoring commission, chaired by a retired judge, to oversee monthly audits and link toll recovery to actual road usability.
BROKEN PROMISES
For residents, engineers, and legal experts alike, the Udhampur-Banihal stretch remains incomplete and fragile despite massive investment and repeated interventions.
Each spell of heavy rain exposes structural flaws, disrupts vital supply lines, and erodes public confidence.
What was meant to be a reliable, all-weather artery has instead become, in the words of many, a symbol of broken promises, environmental damage, and bureaucratic indifference.
