Srinagar, Dec 2: Laced with  facts and figures, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday lambasted the ruling National Conference led government including Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah for having turned this historic City into “world’s fastest growing slum.”
 In a party communiqué, the party chief spokesman Naeem Akhter accused the NC-led coalition of worsening economic, political and infrastructure condition of the summer capital.
 “Srinagar is turning into world’s fastest growing slum because of government neglect while the ruling NC doles out the haphazardly conceived works to its cadres in the name of development only to provide them monetary benefits.”
 Hinting towards “lack of vision” in the NC since its inception when the party was led by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, Akhter said: “The misfortune of Srinagar is the result of lack of any vision for the City in any National conference led dispensation.”
 “That is why the City now looks centuries behind its counterparts in other states,” he added.
 “The National Conference has unfortunately taken Srinagar for granted and does not feel accountable to its residents as its leaders from the City know they are only beneficiaries of boycott politics and are not even raising the huge issues of development this City faces,” remarked Akhtar.
 He said had that not been so, the eight MLAs and a Member of Parliament from Srinagar would not have allowed Rs 48 crores to be diverted from the City roads last year under the Central Road Fund (CRF). “This atrocity was committed on the City with the approval of the chief minister Omar Abdullah who also holds the planning and R&B portfolios and belongs to Srinagar,” added Akhter.
 The spokesman said the City has stopped growing as a modern urban centre adding that it’s becoming home to numerous new entrants from rural areas and is also playing host to over a million tourists. The infrastructure remaining stagnant, life is becoming impossible for commuters as traffic snarls take hours to cover only a few kilometres. He said the shelving of the ADB funded flyovers has frozen road expansion in the City with more and more bottlenecks being added to the system. “Unfortunately the chicken brained NC leaders mistake blacktopping of a few kilometres of road as modernization and development not realizing how cities in today’s world are being developed” Akhtar said.
 “This is in spite of the fact that the Chief Minister and his senior ministers are frequent travellers outside the state and country and they never bring back any modern ideas to relieve their people of increasing commutation troubles,” Akhtar, a prominent bureaucrat turned politician, regretted.
 Referring to the two major bottlenecks at the entry points of Pantachowk and Shalteng, Akhtar said these have made journey to and from the City a nightmare for everyone.
 He said even after seven years the four lanning of Srinagar Narbal road is nowhere near completion. Similarly, the Pantachowk entry point is nobody’s business in the government even though the locals and tourists have to spend hours in negotiating it.
 Instead of taking new initiatives towards the betterment of civic amenities in Srinagar, the present government has in fact failed to build on the initiatives taken by the previous PDP-led coalition government for the betterment of the City, he added.
 "People are getting punished for having a government that has earned highest disapproval rates in the history of the state for its inefficient performance," he said.

Capital bashing
* NC leaders chicken brained, see blacktop patching as modernization 

* CM consented diversion of Rs 48 Cr meant for Srinagar development to elsewhere 

* CM and his team travel a lot outside state and country but bring home no ideas for improving Srinagar 

* Pantha Chowk, Shalteng crossings in mess for seven years, no signs of respite

*Party leadership should concentrate on initiatives taken during PDP regime
(Source PDP spokesman)

Lastupdate on : Fri, 2 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 2 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST