GK Impact: Authorities restore vital bridge for LMVs in J&K assembly speaker's village

Chadoora, Sept 07: Authorities on Saturday made the vital Badipora-Sogam bridge through for light motor vehicles here in Central Kashmir's Budgam district, days after Greater Kashmir highlighted the issue.

The bridge, inaugurated in the run-up to the 2014 assembly elections, had been defunct since March 16 this year after heavy rains washed away its retaining wall on the Sogam side.

The Public Works (R&B) Department made the bridge through for LMVs by filling the deep gorge left beside the retaining wall.

While construction work was taken up by the department soon after the March damage, the bridge gradually went on the backburner leaving people agitated. After initial concrete raft work on the retaining wall, the department later shifted to gabions (crate work) to save time and money. Still the road is not through, leaving the locals all the more perplexed.

Greater Kashmir on Sept 2 carried an exclusive report on the ordeal faced by thousands of people in the area, who commute through the bridge on a daily-basis for the last six months.

The bridge was inaugurated by Chrar-e-Sharif MLA and Jammu and Kashmir Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather in the run-up to the 2014 Assembly Elections at an estimated cost of Rs 55 lakh.

Rather, a National Conference veteran, who lost the 2014 state election to PDP's Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, made a comeback in last year's first assembly polls in the UT of J&K from his traditional bastion Chrar-e-Sharif.