For if there was one name Kashmir villages would get for the year 2020 it would definitely be potholes on roads. Potholes are just everywhere. Right from the gowns to villages, even in some city parts.
They choke traffic, lessen time span of vehicles, occasionally also lead to accidents and increase travel time by manifolds. For the potholes that the village roads have, it would not be out of place to compare it with roads we had in 1950s and 1960s. It is amazing how things were allowed to come to such a pass.
The condition of roads in the countryside is even more worse. Even the districts like Pulwama, Ganderbal, Baramulla, and Budgam have pathetic roads. Just a trip to these districts is enough to gauge the condition of roads right now. Imagine the plight of the patients moving into the city from these peripheral districts of the valley. Imagine the plight of roads in the frontier districts of Kashmir. How would a patient from Kupwara reach Srinagar during peak hours?
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One popular joke on the social media says that potholes have brought uniformity to all regions of the city. There is no A+ category areas and no B_ areas. All areas have potholes which are menacingly wide and big. Right from the VIP roads to the roads where undisguised commoners walk potholes rule the roost.
What can a politician promise to people when he himself drives through the pothole-ridden roads of his constituency. What if a distance of five kilometers takes one hour? The administration is just not bothered.
We can only hope that things will improve. There is a lot that Roads and Buildings Department (R&B) has to atone for. We can only hope and pray that it is not just another shoddy patchwork but instead concrete measures are taken to rid the roads of Srinagar from the dreaded potholes.
