NEW DELHI: The long pending demand for providing rail connectivity to Kashmir Valley has encountered a new hurdle with E Sreedharan Panel raising serious concerns over the safety and stability of the proposed mega-arch bridge on the Chenab. And the panel has also called for changing the present alignment of the bridge, which when completed will be the world’s highest. But despite this, the Railway Board has resolutely refused to heed the panel’s misgivings.
The Railway Board had met last week to discuss the report of Sreedharan Committee, which was constituted following a Delhi High Court order on a petition filed by Prashant Bhushan’s Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). And the panel is expected to submit its findings before the court by the middle of this month.
While the committee mentioned the danger posed to the 359-metre high signature bridge by earthquakes, landslides and the proximity to the Line of Control(LoC) border with Pakistan, the Railway Board says that it has already got the clearance from the Army. Besides, the Board pointed out that the threat perception from earthquakes and landslides remained the same for the entire region.
The project has been pending for over a decade and Railways has already made an investment of over `5,000 crore on providing rail connectivity in the Valley.
The nearly 270-km Udhampur-Baramullah line via Srinagar was sanctioned in 1995 while the 161-km Udhamput-Katra-Banihal-Baramullah has been completed. However, the Katra-Banihal is pending due to the signature bridge.
“The project has already been delayed due to ongoing litigation and it will take another five years, if we have to do the realignment again.
The alignment design has been assessed by expert agencies working in hilly areas abroad and they didn’t find any problems in it. So there is no reason why we should change it,” said a senior Railway official.
The committee has recommended the scrapping of the present alignment along the mountain slopes and geological fault lines.
The alternative it suggested is a shorter and straighter alignment of 70 km cutting through the mountain ranges, shifting the location of the Chenab bridge from the gorge to the floor of the Valley and thereby reducing its height from 359 metres to 120 m.