A 200-foot bridge over the Chenab river is quietly rewriting the geography of daily life for tens of thousands of people in one of Jammu and Kashmir's most rugged districts. Union Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh on Wednesday, 30 September 2026, highlighted the ongoing construction of the Mandol Bridge in Doda, calling it 'a vital step towards better connectivity and faster development in the region.'

What the Mandol Bridge actually connects — and why that matters

The bridge spans the Chenab — the same river that has historically carved Doda district into pockets of near-isolation during monsoons and winters. Once complete, it will physically link Mandol in Siraj with Assar on NH-244, the national highway threading through the Doda–Batote corridor. The minister's post states that nearly 80,000 residents across Kashtigarh, Bhagwah, Assar and Rajgarh stand to gain all-weather road access — meaning the bridge holds whether it is July rains or January snow. The project carries a sanctioned cost of ₹24.69 crore and is being built with assistance from NABARD — the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development — through its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, which has financed road and bridge projects across Jammu and Kashmir since the late 1990s.

NABARD's long game in the Chenab valley

NABARD's RIDF is not a headline scheme, but its footprint in hilly terrain is substantial. In districts like Doda, where topography makes large national programmes slow to reach, NABARD-funded smaller bridges have often been the first all-weather links communities receive. The Mandol Bridge fits squarely in that tradition: modest in cost by national infrastructure standards, but outsized in local consequence. Post-2019, when Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised as a Union Territory, central attention to connectivity gaps in districts like Doda intensified. Multiple bridge and road projects along the Chenab valley have since been sanctioned or accelerated, with NH-244 serving as the spine that smaller links like Mandol are designed to feed into.

Shorter journeys, wider markets

For farmers moving produce, traders accessing Doda town, or patients reaching district hospitals, the Mandol Bridge promises a measurable cut in travel time to the Doda–Batote highway. The minister's post frames the benefit in exactly those terms — markets, services, opportunities — language that maps directly onto the lived calculus of a Chenab valley household that currently navigates long detours or seasonal road closures. The next milestone to watch: a confirmed completion timeline and inauguration date for the bridge, and whether NABARD-funded projects in adjoining Doda tehsils follow in quick succession. For 80,000 people in the Chenab valley, the question is no longer whether a bridge will come — it is how soon the first vehicle crosses it.