Srinagar, Sept 7: Kaar-e-Najar Badast-e-Gilkaar (Mason doing carpenter’s job). Government seems to be literally realizing this vernacular maxim in the City by making the Srinagar Municipal Corporation manage street lighting, a job, which the civic body is just not skilled at.
 And instead of equipping the corporation with requisite expertise, as is true for Jammu City; the government has sanctioned Rs 1.5 crore for SMC to continue with the work. This simply means that the whopping amount has been given into “amateur hands”, again.

‘ELECTRICAL-MECHANICAL MESS’
 The civic-body has been looking after the City streetlights for the past nearly a decade but without any expertise simply because it has no electric engineers for the skilled work.
 And so diploma engineers of Mechanical wing of the SMC and some others who could be taken as laymen look after the lighting system. The civic body officials on the other hand say, they hire private professionals for the work.

THE GENESIS
 When the Municipal Corporation Act of 2000 came to force, the government got the maintenance/installation of streetlights shifted to SMC domain relieving the Power Development Department of the job.
 Since then around 9000 lights are being managed by the civic body. But till now the government has failed to establish a separate electric wing for the work.
 But this “Jaspal Bhatti” endeavor for Srinagar is a mismatch to Jammu City. Unlike the summer capital, the state government didn’t forget timely transfer of electric wing of PDD to the Jammu Municipal Corporation.

THE RESULTS
 In the absence of skilled workforce, the street lighting in Srinagar is often in a mess. Sources said the SMC team dealing with the lighting doesn’t even fully know their domain of work.
 While some areas have been given “plenty of streetlights”, the Srinagarites say, there are no lights in other areas.
 As about the bridges on the busy Srinagar-Muzaffarbad highway, which snakes across the south City, there are no lights. Sources said the lights went defunct several years back but were never repaired.
 Similar has been the confusion in the heart of the City. Nobody is willing to own the responsibility of lighting on the Lal Mandi footbridge.
 On the other hand the lights in the tourist hub of Dalgate and the adjacent Dal Banks often remain out of order. Besides, streetlights are yet to be installed at many places frequented by the locals. Take the case of Masjid -e-Noor Rajbagh. The locals say there are no streetlights on way to the worship place. 

‘AMATEUR FACTOR’
 Sourced said the SMC’s Mechanical Wing, which is looking after the street lighting doesn’t even have requisite expertise to run its own affairs.
 They said diploma engineers were doing a job which the degree holders in Mechanical engineering should do.

GOVT SPEAKS
 Mubarak Gul Advisor to Chief Minister who last month announced that the SMC has been granted finances for street lighting said corporation would be equipped with the electric engineers.
 “Chief Minister sahib is keen to empower the civic body and so this matter too will be solved,” Gul told Greater Kashmir.
 To a question that JMC is already equipped with the electric wing, Gul said it could be “because they have comparatively better revenue generation because of which they afford to pay salaries of the concerned electric wing.”
 “But Srinagar too will soon have the facility,” he insisted.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Sep 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Sep 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Sep 2011 00:00:00 IST