Breathing spaces and congested downtown

The government under the much-hyped Smart City Project has provided a breathing space to the people living in the congested areas of Srinagar. In one such instance, the Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL) has come up with an exclusively pedestrian bridge in the City area, Habba Kadal, where the people including the families could be seen spending a time especially in the evening. The bridge caters a huge rush of people at a time, which has become the only space in the congested locality where people visit on a regular basis and spend their time in the evening. Earlier, the old bridge that existed at the spot was of no use as the people were using the overpass for parking purposes and less space was being kept available for the commuters to traverse through the bridge. However, the redesigning of the bridge has provided a space to the residents living in the congested localities where they are spending time and enjoying their evenings. The people have been praising the government’s move of coming up with the new space. While the work on several projects under the SSCL is going on, there is a need to identify more such places where the people can be provided a breathing space in the congested localities so that they could heave a sigh of relief. There is a dire need of such spaces in the congested localities as sitting and spending the time at these places doesn’t only make the evenings beautiful, but also helps the common masses to reduce the level of stress.