SRINAGAR: A proposed railway line from Bijbehara to the tourist resort of Pahalgam is facing growing opposition in Jammu and Kashmir, where political figures have joined local residents in protest, arguing that the project would divest them of vast agriculture, apple orchard lands and severely impact their livelihood.Bijbehara is a historic town in Anantnag district in south Kashmir and is located some 45 km from Srinagar.MP from Anantnag-Poonch, Mian Altaf, on Sunday met residents of Wulherhama village, whose apple orchards and agricultural land fall along the proposed railway alignment, and said the railway line would not benefit anyone. “It does not benefit the central govt, J&K govt or the people of J&K. We have to convey to the central government that this railway line will serve no purpose,” Altaf said while interacting with the residents.He appealed to lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and CM Omar Abdullah to intervene and write to the Centre on the issue.Several villages in south Kashmir have been opposing the project, seeking government intervention since Dec 2025, after surveys for the proposed rail alignment were conducted in several villages.National Conference MLA from Bijbehara, Bashir Ahmad Veeri, has described the project as ill-conceived and against public interest.Echoing similar concerns, NC MLA from Pahalgam, Altaf Ahmad Kaloo, questioned the need for the project. Kaloo, who joined Mian Altaf on Monday when the latter visited the area, said that National Highway-501 has already been sanctioned and land for it demarcated. “There is already a road to Pahalgam, and the parallel road has been declared NH-501. When land is scarce and a significant portion has already been acquired for the NH-501, what is the need for another 40-km zig zag railway line that will not help in any way,” Kaloo said. He said large tracts of land had already been taken up by the highway project, which is to be constructed soon.On Jan 22, PDP functionary Iltija Mufti visited the area and said establishing a railway line spanning hundreds of kanals of fertile agricultural and horticultural land and residential homes was ill-conceived, detrimental and, most importantly, environmentally unviable. She appealed to Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to scrap the plan entirely.Iltija said the government should consult the people before proposing such projects. “If a railway line is taken through agricultural and horticultural land, it will leave people jobless and homeless in a large number of cases,” she said.