Sonamarg: The visitors thronging Sonamarg health resort in Ganderbal district have lamented at damaged footbridges near Thajiwas area.
They said that the damaged footbridges were causing inconvenience to the visitors.
The visitors complained that some footbridges constructed years back located ahead of Thajiwas were in a dilapidated state and pose a serious risk to those using it.
They said that it was risky to walk over these pedestrian bridges.
The visitors said that the authorities had turned a blind eye to the issue despite Thajiwas being the most visited and preferred place in Sonamarg.
“These are the small wooden pedestrian bridges. The authorities should have repaired them and made them an attraction besides providing safe connectivity to the visitors crossing the stream. However the authorities seem to be waiting for accidents to happen,” a visitor said.
The visitors, local as well as non-locals, have urged the Chief Executive Officer Sonamarg Development Authority (SDA) and Wildlife department to repair the damaged footbridge and avoid any inconvenience to the tourists.
An official of SDA said that the Thajiwas area was a wildlife zone and it was looked after by the Wildlife department.
He said that they would write to the Wildlife department and seek to know if they would allow the SDA to carry out some repair works on these wooden footbridges.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Wildlife Department Ganderbal Altaf Ahmed told Greater Kashmir that they had limited funding for such works.
He said that if any other allied department would contribute for repairing these wooden footbridges, they can do it for the convenience and safety of the visitors.
Meanwhile, a female tourist from south India died after she accidentally slipped into a stream near Thajiwas area in Sonamarg while taking a picture on Saturday, Police said Tuesday.