After he took over as Srinagar Municipal Corporation commissioner, Dr Shafqat Khan is being seen as a hope by the citizens for face-lifting and improving the Summer capital.
Khan says that the people in Srinagar need to own and love the city to make it more beautiful than Switzerland and Venice. The new commissioner says that he has road map to make Srinagar the capital city of Jammu and Kashmir in a real sense of the word and to improve the work culture and bring accountability within the municipal body.
Srinagar city which is faced by myriad of civic issues like sewage waste disposal and treatment, encroachment of land and water bodies by residents, footpathsby vendors, cleanliness,perpetual traffic mismanagement and does not need temporary measures.
Khan says that the city needs a sustainable development plan for long-term to make it one of the best cities in the world.
“Health, hygiene and happiness is our vision statement,” Dr Khan says.
Waste management
“Waste management is being thought about in a holistic way. Drainage, lighting, housing and mobility and other issues have taken a chronic shape and need to be addressed.”
Reformation of SMC
“We need to reform the SMC within at administrative level, improve accountability. SMC needs a major facelift of SMC as it has faced many difficulties in the past,”
Drainage
“Srinagar city has 182000 households. There are complaints of lack of drainage, lighting from every colony. Colonies have been set up as clusters without planning. Only 40 % drainage is available for the whole city, which is almost defunct after floods in 2014. Not only do we face solid waste management, liquid waste disposal is also a challenge. Under Smart City urban planning, Srinagar will be reformed in a planned way in phase wise methods. We will not resort to window dressing, but will address the rootcause of the issues.”
“We have started door to door collection of solid waste in the city. Nowwaste will be collected at the households and straightway taken to dumping sites.”
Footpaths and vendors
“Footpaths have been encroached by vendors. Vendors will be rehabilitated and shifted in identified zones. The signage in the city will be improved for easy location of colonies and addresses.”
Encroachment
“Not only land, but water bodies like Chouth Kull, Gilsar, Anchar, Khushalsar lakes have been encroached and converted into garbage dumps. Government is planning to remove encroachments to make water bodies clean and hygienic.”
“People will not be allowed to encroach roads and land within the city. We will issue building permissions in shortest possible time.”
Love for the city
“People need to own the city, love and feel it. If we don’t remain sensitive about the city, for future generation, the city will not be worth living.”
Kns/Kashmir Magazine/Kashmir Today