High Court summons Chief Engineer R&B over deteriorating road condition

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings to appear before it on February 28 to explain the conditions of roads in Kashmir.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Civil Society Tral seeking upgradation of roads in Kashmir, a division bench of Justice Ramalingal Sudhakar and Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey directed the CE R&B Kashmir to remain present on February 28 to apprise the court of the condition of roads in Kashmir.

The direction came after the bench heard Advocate Asif Nabi who appeared for the petitioner and the state government through Advocate Q R Shamus.
Advocate Asif told the court that the authorities have defied the court orders by not filing status report with regard to restoration of 1697 kilometers that were damaged in 2014 floods.
The counsel pleaded that the government has also failed to provide details about the road guards in Kashmir. He said even Executive Engineer R&B division Awantipora has not furnished information on the condition of road from Awantipora to Tral.

In August last year, the High Court had directed government to file the report about the condition of road from Bandipora to Srinagar.
The PIL is seeking directions for repairing the Highway from Jammu to Srinagar especially from Banihal to Srinagar and Srinagar to Baramulla as also macadamization of the existing old NH1A to make it fit for vehicular traffic.