Jahangeer Ganaie
Anantnag, Apr 2: Closure of bailey bridge for vehicular movement at Sakhras in Anantnag is causing inconvenience to commuters.
Locals from Sakhras, Fudda and its adjacent areas said that the bridge on Lidder Nallah at Sakhras was closed for vehicular movement in January after it was declared unsafe by authorities.
“Since January, people of dozens of villages are suffering and facing a lot of problems,” they said.
“The bridge is connecting Dachnipora belt with Khoveripora belt and the closure is affecting people of both areas.
“Three months have passed since the bridge was closed but no work has been started for repairing or construction of a new bridge. Every day dozens of vehicles get stuck in the middle of nallah while trying to cross it and it takes hours to get them out of it,” he added.
“Hundreds of students of Dachinpora belt are studying in Khoveripora and vice versa but due to closure of bridge they have to cross the nallah Lidder through a makeshift bridge which is very risky as water level of the nallah has increased,” said another local Ghulam Mohammad.
“Many drowned while crossing the nallah through makeshift bridge but they were rescued safely later. It is the shortest route between dozens of villages but due to the closure of this bridge people have no option other than to take long routes to reach their destinations,” he said.
Locals said that they have brought this issue into notice of higher ups several times but no work has been started.
Meanwhile an official of the R&B said that a portion of the bridge was unsafe and it was closed for the safety of people.
On asking why a makeshift bridge wasn’t made by the department, he said it would have cost lakhs of rupees.
“We are on it. Design has been already made and in next 10 days the bridge will be through for traffic,” the official added.
