Appeal to the government to make fourth bridge traffic able

Jammu, March 02: Floods wreak havoc on normal life and when there is a mention of “September 2014 floods”, it is hard for everyone living in Jammu and Kashmir to forget the devastation and loss caused by it. Talking about Jammu, the traffic congestion has become a routine-affair so the majority of the people who have to reach Trikuta Nagar, Bahu Plaza, Bari Brahmana or Samba will have to cross one of the bridges no matter what. Office-goers have to struggle in the traffic to reach their offices on time. So far four bridges have been built on the Tawi River in Jammu- out of these four; two adjacent bridges connect Gumat to Bikram Chowk whereas the third one joins Gujjar Nagar area to Bahu Fort area. With the inauguration of fourth Tawi Bridge on 26th May, 2013 by the then Chief Minister of the Jammu and Kashmir State, Omar Abdullah , people had high hopes that the new bridge will provide some relief to traffic congestion of Talab tillo and the adjoining areas. In the beginning, the bridge did provide some relief to the commuters as the Fourth Tawi Bridge provided an option to bypass Jewel Chowk which helped in smooth flow of traffic. But the September 2014 floods caused heavy infrastructural damage to this newly built bridge as most of its embankment was eroded with water. This sudden damage to the bridge did not only ring bells in the administration but also raised questions about the research done before building the Bhagwati Nagar Bridge. Immediately after this incident, as a preventive measure, the concerned authorities decided to repair the gaping hole which emerged near Bikram Chowk side. Statements from officials made it clear that there were loopholes in the approved project. Consequently, the unprecedented devastation was caused due to swelling up of rivulets and rivers which administration tried to fix with repair work. The repair work started in 2014 and the department missed multiple deadlines within two years and till date nothing much has been done on ground. Talking about recent deadline, BJP MLA from Jammu West Sat Sharma recently stated that around Rs 850 lakh has been utilized for repair of 4th bridge on River Tawi at Bhagwati Nagar and he also mentioned that the second tube of the bridge will be thrown open by February end but as we all are aware, the ground situation speaks otherwise. It is really surprising to see our representatives telling bold-face lies to the citizens. The people involved in corruption should be brought to books by enquiry committee and the government must be accountable to the general public that is paying taxes for developmental works. The slow pace of the construction work has led to traffic snarls and inconvenience to the people. We, the citizens of this state are extremely unhappy about the repair work that is going on at a snail’s pace and it is really disturbing to know that these people do not have a speck of conscience left in them to come clean on this blunder. It is an appeal to the government to look into this matter and make fourth bridge trafficable as soon as possible