BRO, PWD hole funds for pot-holed roads: residents 
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, September 22
Even as the state government makes tall claims of improving the condition of roads in rural areas, the roads in this border township are in dilapidated condition.
In fact, the town, which is also the district headquarters, has roads even worse than village roads, due to lack of proper maintenance. The roads here are being maintained by two agencies. While the roads from Salani Bridge to Panja Chowk, Panja Chowk to Jawahar Nagar and beyond northern-end of the advanced landing ground (ALG) are maintained by the Border Road Organisation (BRO), the roads from Panja Chowk to Northern-end of ALG ground, Abdullah Bridge to Nagesh Bridge are looked after by the Public Works Department (PWD).
Affected residents say that both BRO and PWD have failed in maintenance work. They said both the agencies have not taken up repair work for the past one decade. They have swindled maintenance funds worth crores of rupees, the residents alleged.
“On several occasions, the bad condition of roads and failure of PWD and BRO to maintain the roads was brought to the notice of the state government, but it did nothing to mitigate our suffering,” said Aejaz Ahmed, a social worker and resident of the ward No.10.
“These two agencies are not only bringing a bad name to the government, but are also negating the positive effect of the massive development activities taking place in the district,” said a senior officer in the district administration, on condition of anonymity.