Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Wednesday said the Srinagar city has become a byword for failed governance, and mismanagement and underdevelopment, saying the city is at the brink due to absence of any holistic renewal mission.
The comments were made by YNC Provincial President, Former Mayor Salman Ali Sagar while touring areas in Soura including Hosing Colony, Ellahi Bagh, Hamzah Colony, Awanta Bhawan, Mir Mohalla, Dar Mohalla, 90 feet road today. Salman traversed the areas by foot and made stopovers at various places, where he comprehended the issues confronting the locals. On the occasion he was accompanied by various concerned officials, whom he implored to ensure early mitigation of issues confronting the people. The locals, while interacting with him expressed satisfaction over the prompt measures undertaken by him to tackle with the snow aftermath and mitigation of other exigencies which had surfaced post snowfall across the ward.
Expressing concern over the urban blight in terms of unavailability of basic civic amenities to people, Salman said notwithstanding the lackluster attitude of concerned authorities in coping with the exigencies, which had surfaced post snowfall, the locals dealt with the situation on their own. “I in my personal capacity tried to alleviate their sufferings as well. I had to deal with the wide spread disarray on my own with the active support of locals. There is no accountability on ground in Srinagar, the poor response of administration towards the snowfall aftermath reveals it all. Situation in Soura is no different. People, wherever I went today rued neglect by government since 2015. I could make out challenges, people are fraught with on account of paucity of basic civic facilities including water and electricity,” he said.
Interacting with the people, Salman said the successive governments after 2015 failed to make future-proof plans for the sprawling urban population of the city. He said it was only during the successive NC led governments, marked by various effective policy measures that the city infrastructure received augmentation. He said the issue wasn’t the lack of money but lack of vision, and policy framework.
“Far from becoming a knowledge capital in the region, the city is hankering for basic urban infrastructure that includes good roads, sanitation, and solid waste disposal mechanism. Not just infrastructure, on the issue of urban forestry and providing of green spaces, the city has seen no major headway. On the front of Municipal solid waste management (MSWM), the city is yet to catch up with other cities in the rest of country. The open dumping and landfill continue to remain in vogue in this part of the world. Stray dog problem is yet another vexing issue that has imperiled the safety of our children, elders in Srinagar. The absence of proper sterilization has been put into a limbo. The failure on the phase-out of plastic bags has also been put into cold storage,” he added.
On the occasion, he said that to embark on a long haul for returning to the path of good governance, Srinagar needs investment in sewage, connectivity, housing, solid waste management, green spaces and recreational centers. “I hope that the current crass mismanagement is short lived. Government is bound to ensure all facilities to people, I on my part will try to live up to the people’s expectations keeping up with my party’s ‘citizen first policy, ” he said.
On the occasion, people apprised him about various issues confronting them, Salman assured them that he would take up the issues with concerned authorities for speedy redressal.
