Never ending deadlines
If anything runs as a common thread in almost all the infrastructural projects in Kashmir, it is the extension of deadlines – one after another and then many more. We keep counting till we even forget that the project had a deadline. We still remember this newspaper doing story after story on the long delays in the completion of the Jehangir Chowk-Rambagh flyover. It had then become a joke that the time for government projects is not calculated in terms of months and years but generations. So what could start in your lifetime can be thrown open for your grandchildren only.
Even after a lot of criticism on this count, government seems to have decided not to change. Only last year we had an accident in which a boat capsized and we lost precious lives, including some students. At that time what came under sharp focus, and it was fiercely debated in the public space, was the footbridge that was incomplete despite work having started years back on that. That way the deaths in that tragedy were a direct outcome of the delay in the work. Did that shake the government mind?
No. A cursory look at the projects underway tells us that the government agencies have no sense of urgency in this regard. Projects are started and the work on them moves at a sweet pace, as it suits the project masters.
The story in this newspaper that appeared on Wednesday October 8th, 2025, titled Kashmir’s endless date with missed deadlines is an eye opener in this regard. Once again we have all the major infrastructural projects missing deadlines. We have AIIMS Kashmir that was slated to be completed in 2025, now pushed by another year, 2026. Noor Jahan bridge, and Sanatnager flyover are yet to be thrown open. Srinagar semi ring road is another example.
The question that surfaces up is this: who owns our infrastructural projects? Who is responsible for the delay in their completion? After all it is the people who suffer, and it is the system of services that takes a deep hit. Someone needs to answer, someone needs to be held responsible.
