Tarn–Phagoli Road Still Incomplete After 21 Years ; Project Approved in 2004 Remains Stalled in 2025

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL 

ZAHID SHAH

BUDHAL SEPTEMBER 01:-The much-awaited Tarn–Phagoli road, sanctioned during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government in 2004, remains incomplete even after 21 long years. Conceived to connect remote and underdeveloped areas, the road was meant to reduce deprivation, improve trade, and provide essential services to the local population. Instead, its non-completion has become a stark symbol of administrative indifference, political opportunism, and systemic failure.

The 10-kilometre stretch linking Rajouri and Reasi districts shows a telling contrast: the first 2 kilometres, falling under Rajouri’s jurisdiction, were completed years ago. But progress came to a standstill the moment the road entered Reasi district. Since then, no funds have been released, no officers deployed, and no serious attempt made to restart the work.

This vital project directly impacts more than 20 backward villages. Yet, in 2025, residents still carry patients on their shoulders to hospitals, pregnant women die due to lack of timely medical access, and children walk hours to attend school — while the rest of the country marches ahead with modern infrastructure.

Local residents allege that successive governments have repeatedly sacrificed the project for electoral gains. Politicians, they say, arrive during election campaigns like “migratory birds,” armed with promises that vanish as soon as votes are secured. In the past two decades, no minister, MLA, or senior leader has visited the area to address the grievances of these communities.

“Is politics only about building shiny roads in towns? Is our vote only valued until elections?” asked a woman from Phagoli village, voicing the frustration of many.

The decades of neglect have eroded public trust in both political representatives and administrative institutions. People now speak of being under immense psychological, physical, and social stress, with patience running dangerously thin.

Former Sarpanch Muhammad Farooq Inqlabi warned that if authorities fail to revive the project soon, villagers will be left with no option but to launch a massive protest. He said not only will the Budhal–Rajouri road be blocked, but the agitation will grow into a larger movement — a people’s challenge to the political and bureaucratic machinery that has treated their basic rights as expendable for decades.