R&B, SMC roles in focus as Srinagar roads cry for maintenance

24 March 2021

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Srinagar: As Srinagar city’s roads remain in shambles, resulting in serious problems for day-to-day commuting and people’s general safety and wellbeing, questions are being raised about the R&B Department and SMC’s roles and capacities in the development and maintenance of the city’s roads.

Several civil society groups and individuals on Tuesday from both within and outside J&K during a meeting held in Srinagar raised questions over the institutional capacities in the development and maintenance of Srinagar roads. The groups expressed concern about the role of city’s roads in impeding economic development in Kashmir, including negative impact on tourism, and felt that even as full scale macadamisation may not be possible now, the two agencies must have the basic capacity in undertaking repairs for the potholes.

” It is unbelievable to see the city’s roads in this condition. R&B and SMC must have the basic institutional capacity to undertake repairs of the potholes by using crusher dust plus any other locally available material to address the situation. This is no rocket science”, Anil Dhawan, a civil society leader from Pune, presently on a visit to Kashmir, said on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, several senior citizens from J&K expressed deep disappointment for the fact that Srinagar city had dropped to the bottom in the livability index of the country, with a lot of people leaving the city for good due to lack of basic civic amenities.

“There were times when departments like R&B would maintain contingency maintenance funds, which were small, but were very crucial in undertaking basic repairs of the city’s roads like filling up potholes. Now the focus is only on big budget activities and maintenance is no one’s priority, it seems”, a senior citizen informed the gathering.

The group also felt the need for greater accountability for institutions responsible for maintaining Srinagar’s roads and called for a sustained civil society effort in ensuring that public institutions had the requisite governance capacity and the will to deliver in a time-sensotive manner to address people’s hardships.

“There needs to be a systematic audit of institutional capacities in undertaking work planning, financial estimation, award of contract, execution and supervision by qualified engineers and not by contractors. Lately, we see a trend of contractors and their staff laying roads themselves in Srinagar with little or no supervision by the concerned engineers. We will be pushing for a major audit for all major road works undertaken in Srinagar in the last 2-3 years and try to figure out why the city’s roads are in this condition”, Ms Monika, another team member of the delegation said.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer, Roads and Building, Showkat Jeelani told KNO that the potholes on Srinagar roads will be filled at the beginning of April month, while complete macadamization process will be started by the end of April.

On the other hand, Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has stated that roads falling within their jurisdiction will be renovated in July this year.

Several commuters asked for their views on Stinagar’s roads by news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that the dilapidated roads of Srinagar had become a serious health and safety hazard for commuters, which not only affect their physical well-being but causes damage to their vehicles as well.

“We fail to understand what kind of macadamization process is being carried out. Almost every year the roads turn into shambles within a short span of time, thus putting the question mark over the use of material during the macadamization process,” they said.

Many roads in Srinagar have developed huge potholes, which is adding misery to the people, they said, while appealing to the Leitenant Governor to look into the matter and resolve their grievances at an earliest.

SMC Deputy Mayor, Parvaiz Qadri told KNO that all the roads, which fall under their jurisdiction, will be renovated in July this year.

“Macadamisation of the city roads falling under SMC’s jurisdiction will begin in the end of July this year while main roads are to be macadamized by R&B itself,” he said.

He added that the roads, which will be macadamized have been identified and all the processes have been completed, saying that the work will be started by the end of July this year.

With inputs from KNO