Kashmir Families Press for Jhelum Footbridge to Link Divided Banks

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Afternoon light falls on the Jhelum as residents gather near the proposed crossing between Dhar Bagh-Shivpora and Kursu Rajbagh. 

Children chase one another along the embankment while elders discuss the same subject that has occupied these lanes for years: a simple pedestrian bridge that would let families walk straight to schools, hospitals, and relatives on the opposite bank.

The Civic Reforms Forum Rajbagh-Zero Bridge, formed by masjid committees, mohalla committees, and local residents, has made its demand public through posters and newspaper appeals. 

The group insists the footbridge must rise at the original site. 

Forum members have written to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Advisor Nasir Sogami, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, and local MLA Ahsan Pardesi, seeking their intervention so the project moves forward without relocation upstream toward Soiteng.

Mehwish Hassan, a college student who lives on the Shivpora side, walks the embankment most evenings. 

“My classes and the better coaching centers lie on the other bank,” she says. “A direct crossing would turn an hour-long detour into a short walk. The main roads stay packed with traffic. This bridge would give students like me a practical path.”

Javed Mustafa, a banker who lives nearby, shares the same view. 

“We have watched other footbridges open on the Jhelum and change ordinary routines overnight,” he says. “People raise secondary concerns, but the real question remains whose daily movement receives priority. Public interest belongs at the center of this decision.”

A government official who also lives in the area speaks with equal clarity. 

“Opposition to this very much denies the basic fundamental rights,” he says. 

“Right to communicate is a part of right to live. Accessibility to education includes several schools such as New Era, Tiny Hearts, Linton Hall, and Aspire on the Kursu side, Woodland on the Shivpora side, and Akaash NEET on the Kursu side. Lala Ded Hospital, Modern Hospital, the airport, and the railway station all become closer. People remain cut off from these facilities.” 

Many related families live on either side. A footbridge already stands at Batwara and connects it with Gandabal. That crossing lands straight into the Cantonment Board gate at 15 Corps Headquarters. 

“If that arrangement raises no difficulty,” the official added, “the proposed Kursu-Shivpora bridge should raise none either. A motorable bridge may wait, but a pedestrian bridge has become imminent.”

Official records support the residents’ timeline. 

On July 29, 2026, the Public Works Department published a tender for consultancy services for construction of the footbridge on the River Jhelum from Dhar Farm Shivpora to Kursoo Rajbagh. The tender carried ID 2026_PWDJK_318441_1 and NIT No. 08/e-tendering/SE-South/2026-27/3435-36. 

The estimated project value stood near seven crore rupees. Noorjehan Engineering Consultants Pvt. Ltd. submitted the lowest bid for the consultancy work at 4,98,000 rupees. 

The Forum has asked the department to publish the allotment order, the current status of the tender and subsequent approvals, the approved project cost, the agency responsible for civil works, the officially approved alignment, and a clear schedule for start and completion.

Imtiyaz Khan keeps a small shop near the proposed alignment. 

“We learned the consultancy process had advanced,” he says. “Then talk began of moving the site. Relocation upstream would leave the people who first sought this connection without the benefit they expected. Shivpora residents need easier reach to health facilities, the airport side, and the railway station. A bridge at Soiteng fails to deliver those gains.”

Rukaya Mushtaq, a homemaker in Kursu Rajbagh, describes the practical cost of the present gap. 

“Families live on both banks and still share the same kinship ties,” she says. “Visits to relatives, trips to the doctor, and school runs require long detours. The older neighborhoods continue to function as one community. The bridge would keep that internal link intact.”

Forum materials list the localities that stand to gain most: Kursu Rajbagh, Zero Bridge, Amwari, Khujbagh, Kanilpora, Pathan Bagh, Gadhanjipora, Iqbal Colony, Rajbagh Extension, Rajbagh, and Shivpora. 

Members argue that any change in alignment needs transparent technical justification and a proper assessment of impact on the intended beneficiaries. They maintain that public interest must prevail over narrower considerations.

Srinagar’s long relationship with the Jhelum has always turned on the need for reliable crossings. 

Earlier pedestrian bridges have eased movement for schoolchildren, workers, and families who once faced lengthy road journeys. 

Residents point to those examples when they argue that a well-placed footbridge reduces pressure on congested arterial roads and restores neighborhood-scale travel. 

The Batwara crossing already demonstrates that a pedestrian span can land near sensitive installations without creating lasting difficulty.

The Forum continues to circulate its posters and newspaper cuttings. Members keep the demand precise: build the footbridge at the original Dhar Bagh-Shivpora to Kursu Rajbagh alignment, place every official document in the public domain, and provide a firm construction timeline. 

As the afternoon light fades, residents remain by the river, waiting for a bridge that would make their daily journeys shorter and bring the two neighbourhoods closer.

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