Anantnag: More than 50 households of Gutroo village in Tral, here in Pulwama district, remain cut off from the rest of the world for most of the year in absence of a bridge — which successive governments have been promising but none have built.
Nestled between the high and mighty Vastoorvan mountain range and a gushing water stream, wide enough to restrict any crossing, the villagers here feel trapped for most part of the year, more so when it snows and during the summers when the stream is full of water.
The only thing that serves as a connection with the outside world is in Bangidar area of Tral — a wooden makeshift footbridge.
“As you can see, the bridge is not wide enough to let two people pass at the same time,” Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of the village, told Kashmir Reader.
The residents lament that they have to use the same bridge, no matter what the situation is. “Whether we have to carry a patient to hospital or face any other emergency, like a fire, this is the only passage that can be used. A fire extinguishing vehicle can never reach our village,” the residents lament.
The residents say that they have been, during successive governments, moving from one office to another to get themselves heard, but to no avail.
“Some years back a bridge was sanctioned to the nearby Narastan village and we hoped against hope that our village might be the next. But we probably are lesser humans,” the residents say.
To top it all, the village does not have any health care facility and every time someone falls ill, people have to carry the patient on their backs and tread this dangerous bridge. “It is still some solace in the winters because there is no water in the stream. Imagine when the water is gushing through the stream in summers and you have to carry a patient on your back. It is a nightmare, believe me,” another resident, Umar Khan, told Kashmir Reader.
A few years ago, the sitting MLA of Tral, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah of the PDP, had told this reporter that he has sought a detailed project report on how to connect the village. “We are looking at different possibilities and will see how it can be connected,” Shah had told this reporter in 2018.
Things have changed in Kashmir since and this hope for the people of Gutroo has vanished as well.
“Help is coming from nowhere, despite our cries and pleas,” the residents say.
Kashmir Reader tried talking to Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Dr Raghav Langar, and Assistant Development Commissioner (ADC) Tral, Shabir Raina, but none of them attended the calls made by this reporter.

Suhail A Shah