Srinagar, May 1: A modern City is expected to have public loo in almost every locality that too when the place is of immense tourism importance. But Srinagar seems to be the only exception where government has paid no attention towards the issue even as the summer capital craves for the convenience.
 There are mere three to four urinals in the entire City centre area between Dalgate and Batamaloo –the stretch frequented by lakhs of people everyday. As about other places, be it tourist destinations like Mughal Gardens or the hospitals, there are no public conveniences, almost anywhere.
 This puts the people to inconvenience when they are in need of attending nature’s call when out of homes.

CHOKED VISION
 Successive regimes have failed to pay attention towards the acute shortage of public urinals.
 Batamaloo, which caters to public rush from entire north Kashmir and even houses a general bus stand has no loo. This is despite the fact that the transporters many times appealed the government to come up with the facility.
 Similar is the case of Jehangir Chowk. Scores of public transport buses stop in the area to ferry passengers but there’s no urinal.
 At the adjacent Hari Singh High Street, the historic market place is void of any loo.
 As about the heart of the City –Lal Chowk – there’s mere one defunct urinal under renovation. Last year, in the name of facelift, the Tourism department closed it last year but never to be thrown open again.
 While the facility is expected be thrown open for males, no such place exists for the females.
 As about the tourist hub of Dalgate, the loo is non-operational for years.

DEFUNCT URINALS
 People find it inconvenient to respond to nature’s call.
 “Trust me I avoid drinking water during daytime just because we don’t have any loo in the area,” said a trader at HSHS.
 The problem is more so for females.
 A woman, who runs a boutique at Amira Kadal said she and her female staff have to walk over a mile for loo.
 “There’s no urinal in the area so we go to our relatives place at Hazuri Bagh,” she said.

TOURISTS PESTERED
 Like the locals the tourists too find it inconvenient. But there problem is more severe because they aren’t used to of not finding any loos at public places.
 “I was shocked that there was no urinal at Mughal Garden I visted… finally I had to rush to a restaurant to look for the same,” said Ramesh Kumar, a holidayer from New Delhi adding “This is the only thing pesky about Kashmir.”

FORGOTTEN LOOS
 Not only that the government has failed to come up with public conveniences, it has even forgotten to renovate the earlier constructed structures while some of them have been dismantled in the garb of development.
 Loos at places like at Batamaloo, Jehangir Chowk, Press Enclave, Exchange Road, Iqbal Park and Nehru Park were dismantled for some unknown reasons.

OFFICIALS SPEAK
 Srinagar Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmed said the civic body was aware of the problem.
 “We have decided to construct urinals out of our own resources and the work will soon be started,” he said.
 The official said loos would be  constructed near all Mughal Gardens and others places of tourism importance in Srinagar.
 “Besides, we are looking for vacant spaces where such facilities should be constructed.”

Lastupdate on : Sun, 1 May 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 1 May 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 May 2011 00:00:00 IST