WE THE PEOPLE
Srinagar City drains stinking, stray dogs in abundance but SMC staff quite, Negligent and Unmoved
Hence people urge SMC top brass to press men and machines into cleansing operation, check adulteration and menace of dogs
By: Aleesa Shah/Safwan
Srinagar: It seems sense of aestheticism and cleanliness has disappeared as the main roads of Civil Lines and Shehr-i-Khas continue to remain dotted with heaps of waste matter and drains emitting foul smell everywhere. The growth of stray dogs has also remained unchecked and uncontrolled with no one to take remedial measures. This shows that sanitary staff of Srinagar Municipal Corporation has gone on a holiday. Are they not aware of the fact that the summer capital of J&K State is supposed to be quite neat and tidy so that the tourists visiting the Valley do not gather any bad impression about the hygienic condition of the Valley. The Valley is known for its beauty spots, landscapes, lush green meadows and snow-capped mountains and that is the reason people across the globe visit it every year. Although the influx of visitors witnessed a sudden fall during the last 15 years, yet the graph has started going up due to strenuous efforts of both the state functionaries and those connected with Tourism industry.
The tourism sector is the backbone of our economy as a large segment of our population is dependent on tourist trade and as such the Government must leave no stone unturned in beatifying all tourist spots, especially the city of Srinagar which has also famous Dal and Nigeen Lakes in its lap. It is the duty of the employees of Srinagar Municipal Corporation to keep the city clean and pollution-free. But it is unfortunate that large number of spots both in uptown and downtown are spotted with heaps of garbage, waste matter besides drains are choked. The choked drains are stinking and have become breeding centres for many diseases. The SMC has a big brigade of scavengers, but they are conspicuously absent everywhere. The number of stray dogs has grown enormously high and have made the lives of people quite miserable. The Sanitary Staff of the SMC used to adopt measures to control their population, but such a practice seems to have been abandoned. The Sanitary Staff used to exercise vigil over the edibles and would invariably visit the shops of milk and vegetable vendors besides exercise control over the slaughter houses. Why such measures stand abandoned is quite intriguing?
" The ultimate aim of public administration is to provide relief to general masses as they are the power-centre in democratic dispensations. One of the wings of administration being the Srinagar Municipal Corporation which used to be a symbol of discipline in the past. Its staff would be on toes to check the cleanliness of the city of Srinagar and would exercise strict vigil over the edibles. The Sanitary Staff would visit milk vendors early in the morning and check specific gravity of the milk and if not found according to the prescribed standard then would destroy it on spot. Similarly, slaughterhouses would be inspected early in the morning and no sheep/goat would be slaughtered without the certification of the Health Officer. The water-carriage system had not developed those days and box type latrines would be spotted everywhere. Hence the Municipal scavengers would clean the public and private latrines every morning, minimizing chances of outbreak of any epidemic. The job was not easy, but there was determination and discipline among the rank and file of the said organization. We fail to understand as to why the same organization after getting expanded has lost its vibrancy and its staff is totally inert and irresponsive to their official obligations. The situation was not so bad as it has become the worst immediately after politicians took over the control of the Corporation. As a matter of fact, the Councilors should have been more vigilant as they are accountable and answerable to their respective constituencies. This shows that Corporation is gripped by inertia", said a group of keen watchers of Kashmir valley.
Hence people urge the top brass of the SMC to undertake a detailed survey of the city of Srinagar and get cleansing operations done on war-footing basis. Heaps of garbage and waste matter are spotted at number of places, which speak volumes about the functional mechanism of the Corporation. Most of the drains have choked, but there is none to clean them. The number of stray dogs has multiplied and cases of dog bites are reported every day. Whether these problems are solved remains to be seen!
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