Sopore town which is popularly known as ‘Apple Town’ was also once called as Chotta London, being the business hub of North Kashmir. But this town is now one of the most neglected towns of Kashmir division. Thanks to the government’s biased attitude towards it.
Sopore has produced great personalities in the field ofEducation, Art, Literature, Politics and so on. A number of eminent doctors andeducationists who are now settled in Srinagar or abroad belong to this heritagerich town. The people of Sopore were called as Zinda-Dilani Sopore – (PeopleWith Pulsating Heart). But due to apathy and negligence of administration thetown is now in shambles. Sopore was also famous for three R’s – which stand forRadee, Rabb, Rupyi (carts, mud and money).Though first two Rs are stillabundantly available in the town but the third R has gone down due to manyreasons.
Sopore was also famous for “ا ب ت ” thatstands for– Anim, Bulla and Trumboo. These are the famous business families ofthe town, though most of them are settled in Srinagar now.Other businesstycoons of the town include Ab. Samad Pandit, Ameerudin Pukhta, Wali MuhammadShah, Qadir Joo Janwari. Some famous politicians who belonged to Sopore includeLate Hakeem Habibullah, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Late Hisamudin Vakil, Gh. RasoolKar, Maulana Mohd Yaseen Masoodi, Sofi Muhammad Akbar, Abdul Ahad Vakil.
Famous doctors from Sopore include Late Dr. Abdul Ahad Guru,Dr. Muhammad Sultan Khuru, Dr. Fayaz Ahmad Kanwal, Dr. Shariq Masoodi and DrMohd Ramzan Sofi. Great educationist of Kashmir Late Atiqa Bano also belongedto Sopore. Saifudin Saifi, Muhammad Amin Shakib , Pandit Trilokinath, Gh. HassanQadri , Gh. Nabi Masoodi and Pandit Ved Lal are some other great Educationistsfrom Sopore.
Sopore has also produced some religious scholars such asMaulana Mufti Noordudin, Maam Saeb (Gh. Mohd Kirmani), Molvi Ghulam Hassan,Molvi Bashirudin Qasmi, Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Makhdoomi and so on. Sopore hasalso been famous for its Sufi Saints like Ahad Bab, Lasse Bab, Habib Joo Rawa,Ama Joo Guknoo and Raje Maech.
Presently the town is facing much crises. Bad and congestedroads is the biggest problem in the town at present. The roads are same asdecades ago but the traffic has increased many folds. Seeing a traffic cop onduty to streamline the traffic in Sopore town is a pipe dream. Worst hit areasinclude Main Chowk, Iqbal Market, General Bus stand, Police Station, ShahFaisal Market. Once stuck in traffic jam it can take hours to come out of it atplaces like Hathishah and Bandipora road (near Chinkipora).There is not asingle parking lot in the whole town. Shoppers are left with no option but toleave theirs vehicles in front of their shops or in small lanes adding to themiseries of the commuters.Road encroachment by shopkeepers and roadside vendorsadds more inconvenience to the general public. Person on foot hardly get aspace to move on. Age old tongas create traffic jams and also make the townmore unhygienic with horse dung. There is no concept of zebra crossing andsignals in the town. There are no street lights on the major crossings orroads. Old lights if any are all defunct. Former CM of Kashmir Late Mufti Syedapproved one crore for upgrading the lighting system in the town and for otherpurposes when he visited this town. But till date Sopore didn’t see a pennyutilised for development.
Thieves are on prowl in the town. Everyday there is somenews of burglary in the town and police has completely failed to curb thismenace. Traders often allege that police is not taking this issue seriously.Same is the story of drug dealers. Every now and then some drug dealers arecaught with drugs or banned medicines. But there has been no concrete plan byauthorities to eradicate the drug menace in town.
Bypass bridge that was completed in a period of 25 years isfinally functional but the condition of the bridge is so poor that it hasbecome a nuisance for the travellers. Moreover the traffic mess is horrible atFruit Mandi and Noorbagh crossing.
Power scenario in town is inadequate and unscheduled. Evenmetered areas have frequent power cuts even in summers. And during wintersthere is no difference between metered and non metered areas as both sufferbadly. Drinking water scarcity is almost in all the colonies of the town. Evenif some areas are getting drinking water as per schedule, the water seems to becompletely without proper filtration.
One can notice huge heaps of garbage in main markets androads as there is no particular place for dumping the garbage. This makes theroads and streets stinky and the commuters have to suffer. Same is the problemof drainage system in most of the colonies and water logging is a big issue forthe residents. Historic Zaingeer canal is dying a silent death. It’s all filledup with filth and garbage and the concerned irrigation department is turning ablind eye towards it. It is a major source of irrigation for the agriculturalland in the town but now it is serving the purpose of a sanitation drainagecanal. The much hyped slogan of Swatch Bharat seems to be utter failure in thisapple town. General public is left with no option but to urinate in roads and streets.Adding to the unhygienic state of the town.
The growing stray dog population is one more menace in thisunfortunate town. Parents are afraid to let their kids roam outside homes or instreets due to these stray dogs. A number of dog bite cases have beenregistered in SDH Sopore till now and Sopore MC is least bothered about thisissue.
There is no public park, Library or a children’s park intown. The only sports stadium in Sopore is also in shambles. Youth have veryless opportunities for outdoor recreational activities.
Fruit Mandi Sopore is the Asia’s second largest fruit Mandibut it lacks the basic facilities and is underdeveloped. There is no properparking for the trucks with the result there is a huge traffic issue on theMandi road.
BSNL exchange is in the worst state of affairs. Landlinesremain dead for months and there is nobody to listen the woes of customers.High Speed Broadband is a dream for the subscribers inspite of paying heftybills every month.
In recent times Joint Director Education North Kashmiroffice was established in Sopore town but due to some political reasons theoffice was shifted to Baramulla and people of sopore were left again in deepanger and despair. As the District Baramulla got a Government Medical Collegenow and has its own associated hospital so it is an opportunity for the town toget a District Hospital. Though there is a proposal for the same but again thepolitical and administrative apathy may deprive Sopore from getting a DistrictHospital.
Trade bodies of Sopore have been meeting various concernedofficials and were promised many projects and developments but all has been autter failure on ground.
It is high time for the people of Sopore to unite and fightfor their basic rights. All the local bodies including civil society groups andNGOs must play a positive role to take the grievances of general public tohigher authorities. And the administration also should shun its biasedbehaviour towards people of Sopore and finally work for the development of thetown.
May Allah Bless our town Sopore and may our futuregenerations see a developed town.