Kashmir might be called Heaven on Earth but most of its capital, Srinagar, especially the old city areas called Downtown, were no less than a living hell. But, the city is set to regain its lost splendour as its on way to become a Smart City. The government has taken up the redevelopment of the central business district of Srinagar including Residency Road, MA Road, Jhelum River Front, and the interconnections including Polo View, Regal, Jehangir Chowk, Chunthi Kul among others.
Lal Chowk is at the heart of this redevelopment plan. These days the work is going on at all these sites- giving a dug-up look to almost entire city and the redevelopment is making significant progress. Athar Aamir Khan IAS, CEO, Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL) took to his social media and shared some glimpses of the current progress of the redevelopment.
DEVELOPMENT WORK
On the entire Residency Road stretch, underground drainage system has been completed, dedicated sewerage lines have been laid, the electricity and communication lines are being laid underground through ducts. The junctions are being redesigned, the carriageway is being made uniform, properly organised with dedicated spaces for parallel car parking are being built.
The footpaths are being redeveloped as per IRC standards to make them continuous and accessible. There will be no surface drains separating footpaths and roads and also no regular two-feet high footpaths which are difficult to climb, proper street lighting for vehicular and pedestrian movement, bus bays, green spaces, sitting spaces, recreational spaces & many more.
THE GHANTA GHAR
Not only this, the makeover of the iconic Ghanta Ghar is also included in the project.
The collective effort is making the city better. He regretted that people including traders might be facing lot of inconvenience due to ongoing construction work. “We are doing our best to make sure that the projects are complete well before the scheduled timeframe. That’s why this is probably for the first time that in our city at all sites the work is going on even in the harshest part of winter!” Mr Khan said.
OTHER PROJECTS
Srinagar city has a rich and important heritage significance, but in the past few years, the city had been denied the required infrastructure and resources. The city infrastructure and governance always remained mismanaged.
Other projects which is aimed at redeveloping the historic city include the revamping of water bodies and its surrounding areas, such as the creation of a new boulevard along the famous Dal Lake and the construction of pathways and kiosks along the Jhelum River Bund.
Further, it includes renovation of the well-known historic Mughal Gardens — Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Bagh, Harwan and Chashme Shahi.
Development of open gymnasium, parks, multi-level parking lots, electric buses, and cycling tracks along water bodies are also proposed and under process in the city.
