The quality and performance of urban services shows the working of a civic body established to cater to the civic facilities of the urbanites in a particular city or a town and same holds good for the Srinagar Municipal Corporation looked after the urban services in Srinagar city under an elected Mayor and a Municipal Commissioner for about last three years. The rising public grievances over the maintenance of civic facilities show that the working of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has not improved as much as it should have been. Unfortunately engagement with the citizens has not been as intense as it should have been and consequently SMC the top civic body is coming in for sharp criticism from several quarters over the maintenance of basic civic facilities built and dedicated to the people in recent years. SMC does not maintain the community halls and public lavatories constructed by it in recent years in Srinagar even after raising huge revenue adequately and regularly from the users of these facilities in recent years. The failure of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation in maintaining well constructed public facilities shows that it does not take care of the sanitation facilities in and around the public facilities constructed by it in recent years for the convenience of the people in the city. What goes unnoticed is the fact that people don’t prefer community halls neither for public events nor for private functions including marriage ceremonies due to poor sanitation facilities in and around the community halls constructed by Srinagar Municipal Corporation across Srinagar but not maintained well by it. On the contrary the people prefer to hire community halls constructed and maintained by other departments like Tourism department as they are well maintained with upgraded sanitation facilities in and around them.
Whether it comes to the purposes of constructing community halls or public lavatories the construction of such public facilities is not as important as is the maintenance. While maintaining sanitation facilities in the residential areas of Srinagar city is a welcome move , the sanitation of public facilities like community halls and public facilities like community halls and public lavatories should be also a priority for Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
Just like community halls the public lavatories constructed by Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in the commercial hubs of Srinagar are not maintained well maintained by it for the purposes of both public conveniences and as well as income generation. Consequently the revenue raised by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in recent years from public lavatories has got reduced and as such the SMC is attracting public criticism for not maintaining the public lavatories the way they should have been maintained for the purposes of public convenience. Whether it comes to the purposes of constructing community halls or public lavatories the construction of such public facilities is not as important as is the maintenance. While maintaining sanitation facilities in the residential areas of Srinagar city is a welcome move, the sanitation of public facilities like community halls and public lavatories should be also a priority for Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC).
