nSTATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: The much delayed crucial bridge on Sopore bypass is finally set to be completed this year, courtesy personal intervention of the Minister for Public Works, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari.
The State Government is going to throw open the 226-meter long bridge by August this year.
According to officials, the bridge was initially approved in 1980’s, it then got stalled for some years and work was again started in 1992-93.
However, the work was stalled again and the construction of the bridge was resumed in 2004 by M/s Mir Constructions after they got the contract from Border Road Organization (BRO). The construction work was supposed to be completed within four years and bridge was to be thrown open in 2008. However, it could not meet the deadline forcing the present Government to take up the matter with the concerned authorities in the Government of India.
“We are committed to complete the bridge before the fruit season as it not only provides alternate connectivity to Kupwara and Baramulla, but also connects country’s second largest Fruit Mandi through the shortest link,” the minister said adding the fruit growers have been anxiously waiting for decades for its completion.
He said BRO will be handing over the bridge to R&B Department by July-end and it would be commissioned in August. The completion of bridge will also help ease frequent traffic jams in the Sopore town.
Regarding, maintenance of roads in Srinagar city, the minister said that a multipronged strategy is being used to regulate traffic movement in the summer capital.