Locals agreed to let go of a 40-year-old mosque in Srinagar’s Rampora area for a new bridge over River Jhelum connecting Qamarwari to Noorbagh, officials said on Saturday, 21 December.
The demolition of the mosque began on Saturday, a day after the signing of an agreement between Srinagar District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and the Managing Committee of Masjid Abu Turab at Qamarwari's Rampora area, the officials said.
The demolition project of the mosque, Masjid Abu Turab, and several other structures, including commercial and residential buildings, has been pending since 2002, The Times of India reported. The project could not be completed so far because of issues surrounding land acquisition and removal of bottlenecks, but a series of meetings between the mosque committee executives, Qamarwari residents and Srinagar district development commissioner (DC) Shahid Iqbal Chowdhary paved way for the demolition, the report said.
The project, a 166-metre-long two-lane bridge, is valued at Rs 10 crore.
According to the DC, other improvements like flood protection, maintenance of side roads and lighting and beatification work along the Jhelum river is also part of the project.
(With inputs from The Times of India and PTI)