Reported in the Daily Excelsior it would appear that the funding of highway maintenance on the road linking Padum with Kargil is going to receive some extra scrutiny. Accusations made at State level suggest that whilst an ample maintenance budget exists, a large percentage of funding has not been released by senior engineers and officers at Roads and Buildings. Having travelled this road a number of times in recent years my bruised coccyx can vouch for the fact that significant work is needed. The surfaced section leaving Kargil is in a poor state of disrepair prompting debate as to whether a pot-holled surfaced road is better than a smooth unsurfaced dirt track. Either way it needs some serious attention. My only hope is that any funds released to Padum's PWD are carefully audited as it is common knowledge that a significant percentage of budgeted funds are siphoned off in amounts corresponding to engineering rank.