Bilal Bashir Bhat
Gulzar was 40 years old in 2006 when work began on the much-vaunted Qamarwari Bridge. Today, he is 58 years old, his tenure as a government employee ends in the next two years, and every day on his way to office, as he battles through the frequent traffic jams, he involuntarily curses the previous regimes for delaying the Qamarwari Bridge project.
It has been 18 years since the construction of the Bridge over the river Jhelum in Qamarwari was started in 2006 during the PDD-Congress government under the then Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and still the bridge is not completed.
The 127-meter-long bridge was to be built at an estimated cost of over 9.5 crore rupees, but due to the many missing deadlines, the cost has risen to 15.86 crore rupees in 2023.
Work on the bridge was started by the Roads and Buildings Department (R&B) in 2006, the project even cost the demolition of a mosque, some houses, and stores.
The Qamarwari area is known to have the worst traffic snarls in the entire Srinagar city – given the fact that almost all the north Kashmir-bound traffic moves through this area.
Locals that Onlykashmir[dot]in talked to said that the completion of this bridge was vital to ease out traffic snarls and smooth the conduct of day-to-day affairs in the area.
On Saturday, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Ajaz Asad during his site visit was told over 65 percent work had been completed on the construction of the bridge.
“The DC took onsite appraisal of ongoing works on construction of Noor Jehan Bridge being constructed over River Jhelum at Qamarwari at an estimated cost of Rs 15.86 crore,” a government handout reads.
The DC said by completing this project decade-old demand will be fulfilled and will bring considerable change in the movement of traffic flow.
Gulzar Ahmad while talking with Onlykashmir[dot]in hoped that the Manoj Sinha-led UT administration will complete the Qamarwari Bridge project, a project that successive governments, including the PDP during its two terms, and the National Conference-Congress coalition have failed to complete.
He said we have heard about Manoj Sinha as ‘Vikas Purush’ (man involved in developmental work), and we are currently experiencing it.
