Rajouri: An alternate bridge at the existing Abdullah bridge site in Rajouri town is nearing completion with the Public Works Department hopeful of making this bridge functional in a month’s time.
The bridge is being constructed on Gujjar Mandi – Old Bus stand road in Rajouri town and carries vital importance in lowering traffic congestion in parts of border town.
Officials of Public Works Department told Greater Kashmir that this bridge was sanctioned couple of years ago and construction of pillars and other base structures was carried out after which work remained stalled for over an year due to want of some sanctions from the government.
“The project got sanctioned under the Languishing Scheme and work on the bridge was then resumed after almost one and half year’s suspension and work execution was stepped up in the best possible manner in even double shift working mode,” officials said. They added that after tireless efforts of private firms executing work under the supervision of PWD engineers, the project is near its completion and some final steps are pending before making this bridge functional.
Junior Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department, Zuhaib Shawl told Greater Kashmir that the span of this bridge is over 60 meters with a carriage way of 4.25 meters.
He further informed that an amount of Rs 4.30 crore rupees has so far been allotted for this vital project against estimated cost of Rs 6.20 crore.
JE Zuhaib Shawl further informed that the bridge is having a cement base, steel structure above bridge surface “and is matching the style of an existing bridge so that both these bridges look the same which will give a good look to the area.” Regarding completion of the project, JE Zuhaib Shawl said that besides some other final checks “and steps, the load bearing test of the bridge is pending.”
“We are hopeful of conducting this load bearing test in a couple of weeks and are quite hopeful that this bridge will be put to use and made functional in a month’s time,” said JE Zuhaib Shawl.
On the other hand, Executive Engineer of PWD Rajouri division, Maqbool Hussain, said that this vital project of bridge is about to get complete and will be made functional very soon.
Deputy SP Traffic, Rajouri-Poonch range, Aftab Shah, told Greater Kashmir that this bridge is having a vital importance in traffic congestion in Rajouri town and will prove highly beneficial.
“Road from Gujjar Mandi to old bus stand Rajouri via Abdullah bridge is one of the most busy roads in Rajouri town and a single lane road bridge over Darhali river connecting Gujjar Mandi with old bus stand road was not enough to ensure free movement of vehicles and this all was a cause of severe traffic jamming and congestion,” Deputy SP said.
He further said that multiple points of deployment of traffic cops have been established on this stretch to deal with traffic congestion.
“After completion of second bridge and widening of road from north end of bridge to Bela bridge, things will improve and we are hopeful that traffic congestion at this stretch will get reduced to a big extent which will further bring a decrease in traffic congestion in many other parts of Rajouri town including Dak Bungalow road, DC office road, GMC Kheora road,” Deputy SP said.
The people from Rajouri on the other hand demanded a proper beautification model for this bridge as well as for the existing old bridge while terming completion of this new project as a big relief to citizens.
“Since more than one decade, everyone in Rajouri was demanding construction of a new bridge alongside existing Abdullah bridge so that problem of traffic congestion is dealt in a practical manner and finally our demand was addressed with road widening work carried out by than DM Rajouri Dr. Shahid Iqbal in 2017 while DM Mohammad Aijaz Assad got the bridge project sanctioned in 2018 whereas present DM Vikas Kundal got this project accelerated and now it nearing completion,” said Yog Raj of Rajouri.