Srinagar is an ever growing city, as is the case with any other city world over. It needs an unending attention towards its burgeoning needs. With the increase in population of the city, it would always be demanding more space, and a corresponding increase in civic amenities. One cannot plug the sources of increase in population. There are many such sources, like unabated migration from the towns and villages to the city. The spread of business is also one of the reasons for the people to move to this city. Consequently more and more traffic pours on the city roads. This is the story of all the cities world over, and hence the need to plan them, and plan them in advance. But unfortunately Srinagar has been neglected, in this regard, by many governments now. An unconcerned and at times inefficient bureaucracy did more damage to this city. This is the reason Srinagar is fast turning into a city most would not not like to live in, except by compulsion. The stories of this city being as beautiful as Venice now pester the mind. One doesn’t want to be carried away by the past image of this city, and keep deceiving oneself. Fact of the matter is that this city is crowded, there are no amenities that could earn it the title of a city, there is hardly any waste disposal system making the city look ugly, there are dogs roaming on the roads, and streets of this city. There are problems of drainage. We don’t have a public transport system worth its name. There are so less, and those also mismanaged, parking lots. There are hardly any public spaces, that could make the city dwellers breath some fresh air. And in all this if any space is made vacant, the government immediately fills it with some monstrous structure. In such a situation when there is a talk of a Master Plan, one really wants to know how the planners would solve the problems of this city.
Towards better planning
