Completion of Mirpur-Islamgarh Bridge
Altaf Hamid Rao
Mirpur (AJK)
Mirpur-AJK civil society elders have sought immediate intervention of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan for the early completion of the much-delayed Mirpur-Islamgarh bridge over the scenic Mangla dam reservoir with prime focus to save this Rs.4.5 billion national project from complete destruction – lying in dole drum for the past many years for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities – especially the executing agency the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the AJK government.
“Without the construction of the 160 meter centre span, the entire huge investment of Rs.4.5 billion, made to date, will be squandered”, said that civil society elders in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, that released to the media here on Wednesday.
“We, therefore, request you to kindly intervene in the matter forcefully to save a national project from being ruined, and pass necessary orders for its early completion”, they requested to the PM.
Signatories to the letter wrote to the Prime Minister of Pakistan seeking his immediate intervention to ensure early completion of the over 02 km long Mirpur- Islamgarh Bridge (famously known as Rathuaa-Harrayam Bridge on Mangla-dam lake) bridging this lake city of UK-based expatriates with adjoining thickly-populated Islamgarh town – also mostly comprising the population of expats, included Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, Chief Justice (Retd) of Supreme Court of AJK, Prof. Dr.Habibur Rehman, Former VC, Mirpur University of Science& Technology, Qamar Zaman Mirza, Advocate, President Mirpur District Bar Association, Justice (Retd) Munir Ahmad Khan, Justice (Rtd) Jahandad Khan, Malik Muhammad Nawaz, Member Legislative Assembly AJK, Kotli, Sajjad Hussain Jarral, President Kashmir Press Club, Mirpur, Dr. Ghulam Ghous, Former VC, University of Kotli AJK , Justice (Retd) Sardar Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Former Judge Shariat Court AJK, Kotli, and Justice (Retd) Iftikhar Hussain Butt, Former Judge Shariat Court AJK, Kotli.
The letter said “We the inhabitants of District Mirpur want to bring to your notice a gross injustice meted out to us, the affected people who have twice been displaced from their ancestral homes in less than four decades, first for the construction of Mangla Dam and then for its upraising, each time being called to give sacrifice for the general betterment of people of Pakistan.
