Crawler-track JCB damages road in Uri village, locals seek action

Residents of Limber Baba Gali in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district have expressed strong resentment over the damage caused to a recently macadamised road by the movement of a crawler-track excavator being used for boulder extraction from a local stream.

The concerned residents said that a contractor executing a development-related work in the area has been using a JCB fitted with steel crawler tracks instead of rubber tyres to transport and lift boulders from a nearby stream. According to them, the heavy machinery has severely damaged a stretch of the road, triggering anger among locals.

The villagers claimed that the contractor is extracting boulders to maximise profits and that the movement of the crawler-track machine on the macadamised road has left the surface badly damaged. “The road was macadamised only recently after years of demands and repeated representations to the authorities. Seeing it damaged within such a short period has deeply hurt the local population,” Sajad Ahmad, a local resident said.

Another resident, Mushtaq Ahmad questioned how permission was granted for the activity in an area that falls within a protected wildlife zone. “This area comes under a wildlife sanctuary. As far as we know, lifting boulders from here is not allowed. We want to know who permitted the contractor to carry out such activity despite the area’s protected status,” he said.

The aggravated residents further said that apart from the environmental concerns associated with boulder extraction, the activity has caused significant damage to public infrastructure. 

“After relentless efforts, we succeeded in getting nearly two kilometres of road macadamised. Now it has been badly damaged. Who will take responsibility for the loss?” Mushtaq Ahmad added.

The locals have urged the district administration, Wildlife Department and other concerned authorities to investigate the matter, assess the damage caused to the road and take appropriate action if any violations are found. They also demanded immediate restoration of the damaged road stretch.