Give details of new bridges to SSP: Court

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 22

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the authorities concerned to provide all project details, including the drawings of the skewed bridge and a bridge parallel to the Abdullah bridge to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar.

The court further directed the SSP to study the proposal and come out with a report on how these bridges, if constructed, were going to help in decongesting traffic.

These instructions were issued by a division bench of the HC while hearing a public interest litigation on the city’s transport, during which SSP, Traffic, Srinagar, Sargun Shukla was also present in the court.

Earlier on April 28, the High Court had directed the authorities to go ahead with the construction of the skewed bridge (but not footbridge) over the Jhelum in the Rajbagh area of Srinagar as per the original plan of 1981.

The direction had come after the court had halted the government’s plans about conversion of the skewed bridge opposite Presentation Convent School here into a footbridge as well as the construction of a new bridge parallel to the Abdullah bridge in the Rajbagh area of Srinagar.

However, on May 19, the HC directed the government to appoint the Economic Reconstruction Agency and another agency to determine the feasibility of increasing the height of the skewed bridge at its original site over the Jhelum in Srinagar following submissions by a government counsel that the increase in the height of the bridge near its original site was not possible.

Earlier, the stand taken by the government was that the construction of the skewed bridge would ease the traffic congestion in the city, but later the government changed the nature of the project and wanted to construct a footbridge.

‘Not seen maps’ 

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court issued instructions on providing all details, including the drawings of the two proposed bridges, after SSP, Traffic, Srinagar, Sargun  Shukla submitted that she had not seen the drawings and maps of the two bridges.