The residents of Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar staged a protest against the indifference shown by the authorities in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir in completing the construction of a footbridge in the area, work for which was started seven years ago. According to Kashmir Media Service, raising slogans against the IIOJK administration, the protesters including women and children from Summerbugh, Pantha Chowk area said that despite so many years having passed the construction of the bridge has not been completed. They said that the construction of the footbridge at Pantha Chowk was laid in 2017. The protesters lamented that the work has been stopped on the footbridge a few years ago.

“The absence of this bridge forces the residents of the area to take boats and it is very scary when the water level exceeds. We cannot sit at home, we are not very rich people. We earn in the day and eat at the night,” said a protestor. Pertinently, the protest took place not very far away from Gandabal Batwara area, where, on Tuesday, 19 people, trying to cross the swelled waters in Jhelum drowned in a boat, causing death of at least 6 persons. The locals are saying that a bridge was left incomplete in the area, adding had it been completed, the precious lives could have been saved.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan