The renovation of roads might have ensured smooth rides to the commuters across Srinagar including the downtown areas, but what adds them into the troublesome situation is the lack of parking slots for which they are being forced to occupy the roadsides and pushing the rest of the commuters to the wall. One fails to understand how the smarter roads can bring respite to the commuters when a vast area of downtown, being congested in terms of space, has been left without the specific parking slots. There has been a huge demand of enhancing the road space across downtown areas as most of the roadsides remain occupied due to the illegal car parking by the people in absence of the parking slots. The government has however, stated to have completed 98 projects under the Srinagar Smart City Projects out of a total 152, but these projects have not brought any relief to the people in downtown when it comes to the smooth passage of the vehicular movement. These projects would have proved more fruitful to the people in case the government could have at the top priority identified land for the construction of parking facilities at multiple places. At this juncture the government need to take the issue into proper consideration and start a process to identify land at multiple places across downtown areas so that the commuters will get at least a proper designated place to park their vehicles, which would not only bring respite to them while passing through the roads, but would also give an impression of change and help in showcasing the redesigned roads and historical structures across the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir.
Water security a permanent priority
Amidst the intense heatwave, a parallel crisis of water scarcity has once again gripped the Valley, leaving thousands of households...