Sumbal residents use boats as footbridge work drags on for over a decade

Bandipora, Dec 17: The fate of the vital footbridge over river Jhelum in Sumbal division of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district continues to hang in balance.

Considered as “vital”, dozens of the villages living on both sides of the river have been hit hard, including traders, due to the link getting snapped form over a decade now.

Notably, the decades old and already existing bridge at the place was demolished in 2013 on promises of a new bridge, however, the project kickstarting in 2014 has witnessed little to now work, with the construction getting halted in the same year when the project was taken up by the R&B department.

The old “heritage bridge”, according to locals, connected villages like Nesbal, Naninara, Safapora, Hakabara, Asham and Tengpora with main town Sumbal, giving them “easy access to reach market areas and government offices.”

The link also provided a convenient link to locals to reach nearby areas of Ganderbal and Bandipora.

Nazir Ahamd, a local said, “The bridge witnessed huge pedestrian movement and villagers living along the river used to frequent this route.”

For now, in absence of the footbridge, scores of school and tuition going children, and locals which include both small and old, continue to cross the river using boats, guided by ropes, as witnessed by this reporter.

“The officers or government at the helm are least bothered about us, we too may be awaiting some tragedy someday,” an elderly person, refusing to be identified, near the river crossing on Sumbal side expressed.

Notably the construction of the 99 metre long bridge started in 2014, post Kashmir floods, with an estimated cost of 4.1 crore rupees, however the work stopped soon after the agency constructed underwater embankments.

The work was never taken up again, with successive officials claiming lax funding and contractors refusing to take up further works in absence of pending bills.

One official told this newspaper that the base of the bridge had to be realigned and project designed anew when ruins of the old bridge hindered with new works, but the project halted at that point with less then just “10 percent of project” getting executed.

The project, according to locals, has been “abandoned” since, and hasn’t received any new funds, even when it was brought under languishing projects in 2019.

R&B Executive Engineer Sumbal, Mushtaq Ahmad, told Greater Kashmir, “The project is under submission to the Chief Engineer for foreclosure,” following which it will go to the government who “have to complete some formalities.”

For now, he said, “There were no directions,” or go ahead on the project from the government or the higher ups.