Srinagar Face Lifting And Development initiatives
Patchwork Of Plans Working At Cross Purposes
Amidst the face lifting of Srinagar city by various developmental agencies under appropriate allocation and schemes, the city continues to wear a shabby look. This is because the right hand does not seem to know what the left is doing. The monitoring of Kashmir’s development and progress at the highest level is appreciated. But because of the lack of synergy between various executing agencies, the city wears a look not befitting a capital city.
One agency completes its work on a particular spot. Another comes to bulldoze it for the execution of its own plans. This has been happening since decades.
By evening, the public works department finishes the macdamization of a road or a lane. Next day, the Jal Shakti Department starts digging the road for alignment, realignment, upgradation, repair or whatever.
As part of the Srinagar smart city initiative, face lifting of the urban spaces and execution of vital projects is underway. At places, this seems to be happening at the cost of the completed projects of other developmental agencies. This seems to a waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
I feel sorry to observe that the engineering wings of the various executing agencies cannot see beyond the budgetary allocations. The projects seem to be conceived in haste. During one season, officers conceive a project, get the funding and execute it. The next season, the same team or another team conceives another project and demolishes the previous work to execute the new plan. This is being witnessed at many places in the city.
