After the re-election of Junaid Azim Matoo as Mayor Srinagar Municipal Corporation few months back and the takeover by Amir Athar Khan a young Kashmiri IAS officer as city municipal commissioner few days ago, the Kashmir’s top civic body Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) obliged to take care of the civic woes of the hapless Srinagar populations is in news but for wrong reasons. Meeting halls shut for the city municipal commissioner and the rising conflicts and contradictions between the Mayor and corporators has changed SMC into a divided house with two parallel power centre one run by Mayor Mattu and the other by City Municipal Commission Athhar Amir Khan. Since battle of egos has no place in the institutions tasked the job of improving civic facilities in Srinagar the city of tourist attractions in mid summer months , better it would be for both the City Municipal Commissioner and the Mayor to put their heads together for improving the basic civic facilities to Srinagar residents. Unfortunately SMC is irritating and provoking households even on trivial matters like use of two separate dustbins by households and the monthly payment of garbage collection charges from the residents. Though asking Srinagar households to keep two dustbins for the garbage is a welcome move but an unwise decision to impose penalties on violators is absolutely an irritating and provocative move which the city municipal commissioner will have to rescind at the earliest in the larger public interests.
Both the Srinagar Mayor and as well as the City Municipal Commissioner will have to put in their best to stop the usual practice of receiving notices from the national green tribunal. Not words but actions matter and let both SMC Mayor and as well as City Municipal Commissioner understand that actions speak louder than works.
Both the city municipal commissioner and as well as Srinagar Mayor need to be reminded that SMC used to provide two dustbins to each and every household in Srinagar in the year 2014 instead of asking them to purchase the same from market and authorities did not even think about imposing any penalty on the people for not using the dustbins. Asking households not to pay monthly garbage collection charges of Rs100/- without a proper receipt from the concerned municipal officials is a welcome move. Obviously these are the issues of routine practice and can be settled very smoothly without irritating and provocating the households. The major issues deserving the attention of both the city municipal commissioner and as well as Srinagar Mayor is the repairs and upgradation of defunct drainage system and the facility of street lights in the leftover areas both in uptown and old parts of the Srinagar city. Demolishing the illegal structures is though an uncompromising job of Srinagar Municipal Corporation but City Municipal Commissioner or Srinagar Mayor accompanying demolition teams in any area as per the past practice is neither advisable nor mandatory. Both the Srinagar Mayor and as well as the City Municipal Commissioner will have to put in their best to stop the usual practice of receiving notices from the national green tribunal. Not words but actions matter and let both SMC Mayor and as well as City Municipal Commissioner understand that actions speak louder than works.
