Uncertainty has been looming large over the proposed 1680 mt span Khour-Pargwal Bridge over Chenab River ever since the proposal was mooted in 2012. Estimated to be built at a cost of 206 crore rupees, the bridge under consideration is not only of immense strategic importance but is also supposed to be the longest bridge in the country. Actually, the area that is to be connected is somewhat like an island flanked by the water on three sides. It is also close to the border with Pakistan. During the times when Pakistan opens shelling of the area and that happens often, the people have one narrow escape route to save their lives.
The proposed bride has had many hiccups of bad luck so far. As many as three sites selected for the construction of the bridge had to be abandoned so far for one reason or the other, technical, political or strategic. The genesis of the proposed bridge sometimes forces us to consider whether the Government has lurking doubts about the construction of the bridge. This is gauged from the strange and unprecedented dilly-dallying tactics of the R&B and JKPCC who are supposed to undertake the construction. However, the question is that project has been hanging fire for six years and now the Government wants to think over its various aspects once again. What has the Government been doing all these six years? It prepared the blue print after due consultations with experts, forwarded the blue print to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways which sanctioned 206 crore rupees for the entire project including the connecting roads on both sides.
The Chief Minister and the Minister for R&B both have asked the authorities at the helm of affairs to expedite the construction of the bridge without further loss of time but it appears that their instructions have very little of no impact on the executing authorities. One year and half have gone by when the tenders from three prospective construction companies have been received but the tenders are not finalised. This is the real bottleneck. Looking at the history of the project and the dilly-dallying practice of the concerned authorities, one feels that there is something fishy about it and that there could be vested interests working behind the curtain. It has also to be remembered that when the project was announced and tenders were called a writ petition was filed before the High Court raising some objections. The court heard arguments on both sides and dismissed the writ petition. After that it should have become easy for the authorities to finalise the tenders. That too has not been done despite a lapse of more than a year.
Not to speak of the instructions from the Chief Minister and the PWD Minister, even the public pressure for beginning the construction of the bridge has not yielded any positive results. The MLA of the constituency has frankly said that there is mounting pressure from the people and if their sentiments are not respected, they could as well begin an agitation and that would have bad impact on law and order situation. The cogent point made by the MLA is that the funding comes from the Union Government because of apathy and indecision by the executing authority the funds can get lapsed. Already the NABARD has washed its hands off the project owing to the lapse of time within which the work should have begun, we are getting more and more sceptic whether the Union Ministry of Roads and Highways will be able to continue its commitment or not.,
Finally, the Government is aware that this is a very strategic bridge because a number of military installations are around. It will be remembered that the army had objected to one particular site which had been selected for the new bridge and then the site had to be changed and taken three kilometres upstream. We would like to convey to the authorities that this project be pulled out of long controversy and keeping the expectations of the people of the area as well the interests of the army in mind, remove all bottlenecks and order the beginning of work on the bridge.
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