Srinagar, Oct 17, KNT: Locals from Solina area of Srinagar on Friday staged a protest against what they termed the use of substandard material in the ongoing macadamization process of their lanes, alleging large-scale corruption and negligence by officials supervising the work.
Locals told the news agency Kashmir News Trust that the roads in Solina had been macadamized after a gap of nearly 15 years, but the excitement quickly turned into anger as the freshly laid surface began to wear off within just a day. Protesters gathered in the locality, raising slogans against the executing agency and concerned officials.
“The blacktopping has started peeling off already. This is the height of corruption and malpractice,” said Rouf Bhat. “We had waited for over a decade for proper road repair, but the work done is of such poor quality that even vehicle movement damages the surface.”
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The locals alleged that inferior material was used in clear violation of quality standards and demanded immediate action against the Junior Engineer, Deepak Bhat, and the Supervisor Reyaz Ahmad, responsible for the project. They also sought the intervention of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Commissioner and urged the local police to initiate a probe into what they described as “deliberate misuse of public funds.”
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Protesters said they fear that if the current state of work continues unchecked, the entire stretch will deteriorate before the winter season. [KNT]
