14 years on, Noorbagh-Qamarwari bridge awaits completion

Srinagar, Oct 8: Despite the passage of around 14 years, work on the Noor Jahan bridge at Qamarwari remains incomplete.

The delay in completion of the work results in daily traffic jams at the spot during morning and evening hours, leaving the commuters high and dry.

Given the delay in completion of the work on the bridge, vehicles pass through the existing old bridge from both sides, causing massive traffic jams in the area. The work on the crucial project is still going on at a snail's pace since 2011.

As already reported by Greater Kashmir, the executing agency has missed several deadlines in the past, and two deadlines fixed by the administration in 2024 were also missed by the construction agency. The delay in the completion of the bridge has caused immense hardships to the population living in the area.

The bridge is being constructed on a vital road that witnesses a huge traffic flow from Qamarwari and the Soura area, besides other old city parts.

"During the past several years, some vehicles carrying patients got stuck in this jam, causing delays in reaching SKIMS, which proved costly for them," an elderly resident of Noorbagh told Greater Kashmir.

He said the area witnesses traffic congestion on a daily basis at this spot every day. "The gridlocks remain for hours here. This has been the situation for many years now. The government did not expedite the work on this project, due to which the bridge is yet to be made functional even after 14 years," another resident said.

The residents said the executing agency miserably failed to complete the project, while the claims made by the successive regimes to complete the project have fallen flat.

The Qamarwari cement bridge worth Rs 9.68 crores, was approved in 2010, and the work on the project was started in 2011.

The project was scheduled to be completed in four years after work was started on it. The project has already missed several deadlines as initially it was scheduled to be completed in 2014. Later, the deadline was extended up to March 2017 and then up to December 2018.

In May 2024, the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar said the bridge would be completed in August 2024. But the executing agency failed to meet the deadline.

On October 25, 2024, then Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri announced that the Noorbagh-Qamarwari cement bridge will be completed by December 2024, saying that it will be thrown open for traffic to use it.

However, the bridge is yet to be made operational for traffic.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, in-charge Chief Engineer (Central Kashmir) Roads and Buildings Department, Sushil Kumar said the work on the bridge was completed and only final touches were going on.

"The work is in the final stage. We have laid the slab of the bridge as well. It will be thrown open for traffic by October ending this year," he told Greater Kashmir.