Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, June 23: The residents of Srinagar are distraught at the slow pace of work on two vital bridges at Qamarwai and Shalteng areas here with officials citing scarcity of funds as a major stumbling block in the completion of construction work.
The absence of bridges have been causing severe hardships to commuters and resulting in rush hour traffic snarls. The construction of the bridges, which started over eight years ago, has been left in limbo. The executive agencies have stopped the works due to lack of funds. Both the bridges were taken up to ease traffic conjunction and ensure fast movement of traffic.
The already existing bridge at Qamarwari popularly known as “Cement Bridge” has historical importance in the Valley as it was the first bridge over the Jhelum River to be constructed in concrete. The bridge is an important link as it connects the Old City, Soura, Hazratbal and Ganderbal areas with North-Kashmir, Qamarwari and Batamaloo.
The Qamarwari area is one of the most congested areas of Srinagar city and frequent traffic jams in the area have become a major source of inconvenience for the commuters.
The work on the 127 mts long bridge which, according to Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department costs Rs 9.85 crore, was started in June 2011. Despite missing several deadlines in its construction, R&B Department has failed to construct the bridge in the given timeframe.
Barely five kilometers away from Qamarwari, another bridge at Shalteng area on the outskirts of Srinagar, constructed by Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC), is incomplete after passing more than a decade since the construction work was started. With a revised estimated cost of Rs 1679.78 lakhs, work on the bridge was started in November 2008 and has missed several deadlines. Once completed, this 193 meters long bridge would connect Goripora and Palapora area with Srinagar-Baramulla highway.
The residents of Goripora and Palapora have to face immense hardships in the absence of a motorable bridge in the area. “We were very happy when the work on the bridge was started as it was the lone motorable bridge that would connect us with the Srinagar-Baramulla highway via Shalteng. But more than ten years have passed and the bridge is still incomplete,” Sameer Ahmad, a resident of Goripora, said
About Shalteng Bridge, Ishtiaq Malik, General Manager JKPCC said that the delay in completion of the bridge was because of funds scarcity. “Lack of funds has hit the project,” he said.
He, however, hoped that the work would resume as the company has requested the Government to put it under languishing projects. “Once they approve the project we will start the work,” he said.
An R&B Department official when contacted regarding the Qamarwari bridge, said that devastating floods of 2014 in which almost whole Srinagar got submerged and acquisition of land as the main reason behind the incompletion of construction of the bridge.
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