A century-old truss bridge, colloquially known as ‘Chaklay-wala Pull’ (Red Light Area Bridge) which used to connect Raja Bazaar with the cantonment areas is now a shadow of its former glory, with the local administration and archaeology department hardly bothered in its preservation.

At present, the bridge stands on its last legs, thanks to the scrap dealers who over the years removed the precious Deodar wood that made up its girders. Nobody took action to stop these people from removing the precious timber from this abandoned bridge. At this rate, the 130-year-old bridge will soon become a distant memory.

After the occupation of Punjab in 1849, the British colonisers arrived in Rawalpindi and made the city the headquarters of the Northern Command in 1851. In 1890, they constructed this bridge to connect the city with the army barracks and railway quarters in Westridge. On the other side of the bridge was ‘Sarai Beli Ram’ –an area similar to Lahore’s Heera Mandi – during the British Raj before the area was dismantled in the 1960s. Though the area is gone, the name ‘Chaklay-wala Pull’ persists.

The bridge, however, was used by the locals, as low-income settlements sprang up across the bridge following the departure of sex workers. But in 1976, a new concrete bridge adjacent to it was constructed and after that, the truss bridge was abandoned. The local administration at the time was asked to preserve this structure but it remained neglected.

In fact, the Rawalpindi Municipal Waste Management turned one side of the bridge to dump garbage whereas shopkeepers are busy dealing in ‘Naswar’ on the other side.

Raja Ikram, a 74-year-old trader in Ganjmandi, said that he witnessed the wooden bridge and the scrap sellers removed all the wood from the bridge in the last three decades. “There was no other wooden bridge in the garrison city but it was destroyed due to indifference of the government for the preservation of old heritage,” he said.

Muhammad Bashir, a resident of Railway Road, said that he travelled on the bridge in the late 70’s. “Then tanga (horse carriage) was used to travel from Raja Bazaar to Dhoke Hassu. There were fewer cars; mostly tanga or bicycles were used to access Raja Bazaar via this bridge,” he said. He said that in the summer, people spent time in the evening on this bridge to enjoy the cool breeze because Leh Nullah used to be clean then compared to now.

On the one hand, the local administration and Parks and Horticulture Authority spend millions of rupees to showcase the history of the city along Murree Road but on the other hand, it has failed to preserve the century-old buildings and this particular bridge from the destruction.

The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) made a plan in 2019 to preserve the temples and Sujan Singh Haveli in Bhabara Bazaar, but it has yet to materialise. According to RMC officials, it was the duty of the Punjab Archeology Department to preserve such sites.

They said that the area came under the jurisdiction of the RMC but it was not responsible for the preservation of these sites. WhenDawnapproached Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema, he said that such sites should be preserved for tourist attraction and that he would look into the matter and inform the relevant department soon.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2024