Bandipora, June 25 -- What should be a smooth drive from Sumbal to Bandipora has turned into a bumpy ride through roads cluttered with construction debris, garbage heaps, and illegally parked vehicles-painting a grim picture of civic mess and administrative neglect.

The journey from Sumbal to Bandipora no longer feels like a drive through a modern district. Instead, it resembles a neglected area where public discipline and civic sense seem to have disappeared.

From garbage dumps and piles of construction material to cow dung along the roadside and trucks parked illegally-Bandipora's main roads have become difficult to recognise and increasingly unsafe.

Besides the usual problems of bad road conditions and traffic congestion, a worrying...