Srinagar, Nov 17: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) will construct two more community halls in the City and the facilities would be thrown open for public by the spring of new year, the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Nasir Sogami Tuesday said.
 The community halls will be constructed in Mehjoor Nagar and Rawath Pora areas.
 Flanked by City Mayor Salman Ali Sagar, Sogami along with a team of senior officials toured several areas of Srinagar.
THE COMMUNITY HALLS
 Sogami, who is also the MLA Amira Kadal, allotted land for the two community halls in his constituency.
 The SMC would spend some 80 lakh rupees on the two constructions, the work on which is expected to be started soon.
 The officials said the decision was taken following the public requests that there was a dire need of such common facilities.
PARKING LOT EASED
 Following complaints from commuters that the parking lot outside Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal Park at Hazuri Bagh was being “illegally” used as a Tata Sumo stand, the Minister visited the spot and gave on –the-spot instructions that the space be made free for public parking.
 Sogami instructed the Regional Transport Officer and the police department to ensure that the space wasn’t “misused anymore”.
 In fact, the City Mayor had called the minister to the spot to get an on-the-spot feel of the problem.
 For the past few days, Salman had been plying on the Hazuri Bagh road during the peak hours only to make a review of the problem.
 On Monday afternoon, the Mayor visited the park along with a team of SMC officials to find a remedy to the shortage of the parking space in the area.
 While there was a proposal that a part of the park periphery could be converted into parking lot, it was finally decided that for the time being the parking space at the entrance be eased of the “illegal” sumo stand.
HAZURI BAGH BUILDINGS
 About the problems beings faced by traders at the SMC owned Hazuri Bagh buildings, gutted in ‘90s, Sogami said, he would visit the site in the coming days.
 “Their problems have come to my notice and I will visit the site in the coming days,” Sogami told Greater Kashmir.
NEW FENCING PROPOSAL
 The City Mayor proposed that Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal Park be given a facelift by construction of a new fencing wall on “heritage architecture pattern”.
 “We plan to beautify the park periphery like that of the Eidgah fencing,” Salman told Greater Kashmir during the sidelights of the tour.
 To mention, earlier this year, the SMC constructed community halls in Batamaloo and Maisuma areas.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 IST