Srinagar, Oct 17: The Lal Mandi footbridge –a busiest walkway and vital connect to the City centre of Lal Chowk –is plunged into darkness as the defunct streetlights there haven’t been repaired for long.
 Since its commissioning in 2004, the bridge came as a respite for thousands of commuters who use the facility everyday to cross river Jhelum. But in the absence of credible streetlights, a walk in the evenings is often a trouble for the passer-by.
 Interestingly, the problem isn’t new. It has been there since the lights installed at the time of the inauguration, got defunct.
 For months, the walkway across Jhelum remained plunged into darkness. Finally in February 2010, in response to a series of stories by Greater Kashmir, the government woke for the repairs.
 Till then the authorities had been shifting the blame on each other for failure on streetlight repairs.
 While the Roads and Buildings department said it was the job of the Power  Development Department, the latter pointed the finger towards the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. And the SMC back onto the other two.
 Finally, the then Minister for R&B GM Saroori intervened and got the streetlights repaired.
 For a few weeks, the lighting worked till it again got defunct triggering doubts on the quality of the equipment used.
 “How can streetlights go defunct within weeks of installation? When such is the quality of work in the heart of City, the standards being maintained by the government elsewhere can only be imagined?,” argued a businessman of Lal Chowk area who frequently uses the footbridge.
 “The government should probe such irregularities,” he asked.
 For now the R&B officials again pass the buck on the other departments.
 “We are not responsible for the maintenance of streetlights. Probably the SMC people have to do it,” said a R&B official requesting not to be named.
 Asked why the department went for   repairs in February, he said: “It was a goodwill gesture from the then Minister.”
 But the Minister of State for R&B, Javed Ahmed Dar admitted that the footbridge maintenance was to be done by the department.
 “I was unaware of the problem till now…but now the lighting will be repaired on priority basis,” the Minister told Greater Kashmir.
 Pertinently, the bridge was one of the prestigious projects executed by the then Mufti Muhammad Sayeed led coalition regime. Amid much fanfare, Mufti and his Congress colleague Mangat Ram Sharma had jointly inaugurated the bridge on July 13, the Martyrs Day.
 Within days the bridge got popular with the people who found it an easy access to busy the Lal Chowk. 
 But evenings on the Lal Mandi bridge have often been inconvenient, in the absence of streetlights and government concern!

Lastupdate on : Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST