A bumpy and dusty drive to the town from Lakhanpur exposes the tall claims of the government of having carpeted the road right up to Basohli
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 22
Even as the state government claims it has taken up the development of the Lakhanpur-Basohli-Sarthal tourist circuit under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Programme at a cost of Rs 7.99 crore, a lot needs to be done to bring the picturesque Basohli on the tourist map of the state.
Basohli, a small town and a tehsil headquarter, is situated on the right bank of the Ravi at an altitude of 1,876 ft. Famous for its miniature paintings, the town was founded by Raja Bhupat Pal in 1635.
“On May 23 this year, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the much awaited 592-m-long cable-stayed bridge on the 10.5 km Dunera-Bani road over the Ravi. However, basic amenities in the form of proper roads, electricity and water are yet to reach the people in villages and hamlets adjoining Basohli,” said Bodh Raj, a schoolteacher.
“The government in the last Assembly session in Jammu had claimed that it had spent Rs 4.7 crore till August 2010 on the development of infrastructure under the circuit, but the fact of the matter is that we still need properly carpeted roads in our area,” he added.
It may be stated that the government has already completed the construction of an Art Development Centre at Basohli and a Tourist Development Centre at Sarthal.
Being a hilly area, the road network should be improved without further delay, said Mukul Sharma, another resident of Basohli.
“We are living in the lap of nature but that doesn’t mean that we should be left at the mercy of the nature. Development has to be done by the government whose representatives come to us every six years to seek vote,” he said in an apparent reference to the politicians.
Driving on serpentine roads in a hilly area is always risky. It is high time the government widens the roads besides installing crash barriers as a safety measure, said Sharma.
A bumpy and dusty drive to the town from Lakhanpur exposes the tall claims of the government of having carpeted the road right up to Basohli.
Basohli, a small town and a tehsil headquarter, is situated on the right bank of the Ravi at an altitude of 1,876 ft. Famous for its miniature paintings, the town was founded by Raja Bhupat Pal in 1635.
“On May 23 this year, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the much awaited 592-m-long cable-stayed bridge on the 10.5 km Dunera-Bani road over the Ravi. However, basic amenities in the form of proper roads, electricity and water are yet to reach the people in villages and hamlets adjoining Basohli,” said Bodh Raj, a schoolteacher.
“The government in the last Assembly session in Jammu had claimed that it had spent Rs 4.7 crore till August 2010 on the development of infrastructure under the circuit, but the fact of the matter is that we still need properly carpeted roads in our area,” he added.
It may be stated that the government has already completed the construction of an Art Development Centre at Basohli and a Tourist Development Centre at Sarthal.
Being a hilly area, the road network should be improved without further delay, said Mukul Sharma, another resident of Basohli.
“We are living in the lap of nature but that doesn’t mean that we should be left at the mercy of the nature. Development has to be done by the government whose representatives come to us every six years to seek vote,” he said in an apparent reference to the politicians.
Driving on serpentine roads in a hilly area is always risky. It is high time the government widens the roads besides installing crash barriers as a safety measure, said Sharma.
A bumpy and dusty drive to the town from Lakhanpur exposes the tall claims of the government of having carpeted the road right up to Basohli.
No comments:
Post a Comment