The saga of the Guzhama bridge on the Jhelum River is a glaring testimony to administrative apathy and institutional inefficiency. Conceived more than thirteen years ago to connect the twin districts of Ganderbal and Bandipora, the 50-metre span bridge remains incomplete, despite over Rs 9 crore already spent and abutments partially raised. What should have been a relatively small but vital connectivity project has been reduced to a monument of delay, mismanagement and indifference. The JKPCC, entrusted with the execution in 2011, abandoned the work midway after citing a shortage of funds. This is not an isolated instance but part of a pattern where the agency has repeatedly failed to complete projects on time, causing avoidable cost escalations and public resentment. The Guzhama bridge today epitomises this chronic malaise – the inability to deliver even the most basic infrastructure within a reasonable timeframe.
The repercussions of this inordinate delay are far-reaching. For thousands of school-going children, patients, traders and office goers, the absence of the bridge has meant traversing additional kilometres daily. With the ban on using fishing boats after a boat tragedy in Srinagar, commuters now face an extra kilometre detour each way, translating into lost time, financial burden and immense physical hardship. When aggregated over more than a decade, the economic loss inflicted on the region runs into hundreds of crores – a staggering waste of both public resources and human potential.
It is more troubling that this bridge lies in the constituency represented by the CM himself. That even here, a modest project has languished for over a decade exposes prevalent inertia. Meanwhile, construction material has rusted at the site, some even washed away by floods – another stark reminder of financial mismanagement. The revised estimate has now ballooned to Rs 44 crore, and the never-ending cycle of revised DPRs, approvals and fund scarcity threatens to prolong the ordeal further. The Government must intervene decisively to break this cycle. With a significant portion of funds already spent, there is no justification for further delay. The matter requires immediate prioritisation, strict timelines, and direct monitoring by higher authorities through online progress tracking. The people of Ganderbal and Bandipora cannot be left hostage to bureaucratic lethargy and institutional failure any longer.
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