Road to Nowhere | WUCMA delays Rs 3.5 Cr road project to Zurimanz village

Bandipora, Mar 31: The Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) in Bandipora has been sitting on a Detailed Project Report (DPR) about a road to Zurimanz village for months.

The residents of the village, situated in the foothills of the famous hillock of the shrine of Baba Shukur Din (RA) in Aloosa tehsil of the north Kashmir district and encircled on three sides by the vast expanse of Wular Lake, have longed for a proper road for years.

Despite its breathtaking serenity and vast tourist potential, the villagers feel “not heard” by the administration, despite several representations for basic amenities like water, roads, and healthcare.

Even after receiving some attention from the WUCMA, which erected a gazebo in 2023, to attract more tourists to the village, the basic amenities of the villagers remained of “least concern”. WUCMA is also constructing a water jetty to attract more tourists to the village from which locals have benefited.

“No doubt tourist arrivals have benefited us, but the condition of our village in terms of basic facilities remains unchanged,” said Farooq Ahmad Dar, a local.

He described the road to the village as a nightmare for both pedestrians and commuters.

The road to the village was constructed almost a decade ago but due to lax engineering, it remains unusable for most of the summer when the water level in the lake rises, submerging the nearly 2 km road stretch.

Due to inundation, the road’s condition also worsens, with deep potholes rendering it non-commutable.

Despite requests over the years to the R&B and PMGSY authorities to make the road accessible year-round, no project has materialised.

Greater Kashmir learned that PMGSY had to pull out and did not take up the project after a survey was conducted last year.

Following PMGSY's refusal, WUCMA was requested to finance the project.

With a go-ahead, the Bandipora division’s R&B Department prepared a Rs 3.5 crore DPR and submitted it to the agency in September, officials told Greater Kashmir.

However, despite the lapse of seven months, the agency has yet to approve the DPR, officials said. The road, as mentioned in the DPR, will be executed in two phases. The first stage includes filling to raise the level of the road and rolling compaction for at least five months.

This is to ensure that the road can withstand all weather conditions and enhance its strength.

The official sources said the filling is to be at least 6 feet so the road remains above the water, with concrete walling to strengthen the capacity and support the filling.

The second phase will involve levelling and macadamisation to make the road commutable for all kinds of traffic.

Executive Engineer R&B Bandipora, Asadullah Najjar told Greater Kashmir that they had submitted a DPR of over Rs 3 crore rupees WUCMA.

“We are awaiting sanction,” he said. “As soon as the sanction is granted, the tenders for the work will be issued.”