Sanat Nagar Flyover: Oops! Transmission tower makes the bridge too far!

By: Naveed Sheikh and Ambreen Khan (Ziraat Times News Desk)

Srinagar: In what is being termed as one of the most glaring examples of ill-conceived urban development in Kashmir, the much-anticipated Sanat Nagar Flyover in Srinagar faces a major operational hurdle even as its construction nears completion. The flyover, touted as a solution to growing traffic congestion in the area, cannot be operationalised due to a 132 KV power transmission line running directly over its deck — a serious oversight that has left both citizens and experts in disbelief.

Public reaction has been swift and scathing, with widespread disbelief over how such a critical infrastructure lapse could occur despite the involvement of multiple government departments and technical agencies. Civil society groups, commuters, and urban planners alike are questioning the rationale behind allowing such a massive project to proceed without resolving fundamental safety and clearance issues beforehand.

According to power transmission experts who spoke to Ziraat Times, the flyover alignment was drawn and executed without due consideration of a high-tension 132 KV electricity transmission line that passes over the route. The presence of this line — which now hovers directly above the flyover’s surface — makes it impossible to open the flyover for public use due to obvious safety hazards.

“This is not a technical oversight. It’s an administrative failure and an indictment of our planning system,” said a senior retired engineer of the Power Development Department. “Either the flyover should not have come up here in the first place without resolving this power line conflict, or the alignment should have been redesigned.”

Experts say the government is now left with two extremely challenging options — either to realign the transmission line by acquiring new land and erecting new towers, or to increase the height of the existing towers to raise the clearance over the flyover.

“Both options are technically complex and financially draining,” a transmission engineer explained. “Realigning the line means acquiring urban land, which is scarce and prohibitively expensive. Raising the tower heights, on the other hand, involves major engineering challenges, especially with live high-voltage lines. It’s not only risky but time-consuming.”

Sources said discussions are underway at multiple administrative levels, but no final decision has been made.

The development has sparked sharp public reaction across Srinagar and beyond, with many expressing frustration over what they describe as Kashmir’s culture of “build first, plan later” governance. Residents are particularly angry about the potential loss of public funds and delays caused by the apparent lack of coordination among key departments such as National Highway Authority, Roads and Buildings (R&B), the Power Development Department (PDD), and the Urban Planning Directorate.

“It’s shocking that such a massive project worth crores was allowed to proceed without conducting basic feasibility studies regarding power lines and service clearances,” said Tariq Ahmad, a resident of Rawalpora who regularly passes through Sanat Nagar. “Whose job was it to foresee this? Why are taxpayers always left to bear the cost of bureaucratic blunders?”

Environmental and urban experts have also weighed in, arguing that the Sanat Nagar case reflects a broader crisis of planning inefficiency in Kashmir’s urban infrastructure development.

“This incident underscores the lack of integrated planning and interdepartmental coordination that plagues our development model,” said Dr. Insha Mir, an urban development researcher based in Srinagar. “We urgently need a professional, centralized planning body that ensures environmental, safety, and technical clearances are part of the planning process — not afterthoughts.”

The story has been modified for some factual accuracies.