Focus on roads

Pathos, chaos and disorder would define the two roads builtwith a purpose of connecting SKIMS- the prime tertiary care centre of Kashmirwith the rest of the state. These roads were supposed to be expressways-flawless, fast and broad roads, which would ensure smooth travel for patientsand staff of SKIMS. One road named after the legendary physician of Kashmir Dr.Ali Jan connecting it with Downtown and Uptown Srinagar and another the “90feet Road” connecting SKIMS with Ganderbal and its higher reaches. Traffic jamsalong these two roads and a squeeze of pedestrian pathways are reachingintolerable limits. Panting sick patients, desperate attendants and panicstricken staff are getting held up in jams amounting to waste of precious timefor patients and the staff. Could someone help to ease this distress?

It was definitely not like this a few years before. Ali JanRoad was broad and unoccupied, (though ill maintained always) and so was the 90feet Road. Laced by the quiet and still Aanchar lake, Ali Jan Road hadremarkable elegance and beauty. I remember taking my children along the lushgreen banks of Aanchar where they would play with grazing flocks of sheep andsing,’Old MacDonald had a farm…”There has been a quick decay of Aanchar and aquicker capture of the road. While the banks have been transformed into scrapdumping sites where old cars, wheels and city’s junk are heaped up into uglymountains, the road is used by car washing outlets, car selling showrooms andupcoming malls. So, much is happening along Aanchar and Ali Jan Road that itwould qualify as the most happening place in Srinagar. Behind the curtains,aluminum sheets and plastic veils lot of construction is going on. I wonder noone at the helm seems to notice while an ecologically sensitive lake is beingvandalized  and an artery to a  healthcare facility is being throttled. It isnot long when the Ali Jan Road and backwaters of Aanchar will turn into anotherKaran Nagar like disaster. What are we waiting for?

   

90 Feet Road was seen as a blessing for people fromGanderbal, Kangan and Sonamarg area who could at ease move their patients toSKIMS Soura. This road has been partially occupied and huge shopping malls havecome up along this road encroaching upon the part of the road meant forpedestrians. This road was mind you supposed to be a ‘No-nonsense road’ whichwould ensure a smooth flow of inter-district traffic. Alas! it is turning intoa congested shopping den with no regard to the sanctity of the road or thepurpose for which it was built.

After 2014 Kashmir floods, Srinagar witnessed a constructionboom-most of it illegal. Malls, houses and buildings have not spared any waterbody or a wasteland. Roads, parks and graveyards have become victims of acollective greed. You might call it my obsession, but in my every write-up onDowntown , I express my concern over the plunder of a place where I spent mychildhood…the once beautiful Kohimaran and its surroundings. The plight of thisbeautiful hillock and its surrounding area which is of equal importance toMuslims, pandits and Sikhs should have evoked some response from some authorityso that the loot that is happening in this area could have been stopped andsome measures taken to restore the beauty and purity of the place which hasbecome an ugly slum and a hub of antisocial activity.

The land gobble, the illegal constructions, the indifferencetowards ecology, environment and history has made a monster out of Srinagar.That should really worry us. Something badly needs to be done to prevent itsdeath.

Someone kindly look into the encroachments along thehospital roads too-there are ambulances that need to move, there are sickpatients in golden hour, there are doctors and paramedic too….the encroachmentof roads is corruption too and we are told government is committed to makingKashmir corruption free.. Can we focus on roads for now?

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