Manzoor-ul-Hassan
Srinagar, Jun 27: The summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, will likely see a return of water transport within three to four months, according to the officials of Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL).
The flagship project under SSCL aims to provide an alternate mode of public transport in Srinagar City and revive water transport after three decades.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SSCL, Owais Ahmad, said that the project is in the last stage of its tendering process and would take at least three to four months to complete.
“On completion of the tendering process, we will finally be able to procure modern motorised boats and other equipment to start the water transport on selected routes,” he said.
“Initially, we will procure 25 boats from the successful bidder and start the water transport facility from River Jhelum and Dal Lake in the first phase,” he said.
The CEO further said the administration had already finalised at least 13 routes in Srinagar City that would be covered under the water transport project.
He said the prestigious project will revive the past glory of water bodies in Kashmir.
“After Jelhum River and Dal Lake, the project will cover other water bodies like Gilsar Lake,” he added.
The water transport services were earlier anticipated to start in March, as announced by the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, in January. However, due to some roadblocks, the services couldn’t be started.
Houseboat owners along the river Jhelum had several concerns for the safety of their livelihoods. They also demanded the rehabilitation of houseboats to safer locations before the inauguration of water transport.
Pertinently, boats were a popular mode of transport in Kashmir until the 1970s.
Most of the merchandise—timber, foodstuffs, vegetables, firewood, charcoal, building materials, etc.—was all transported through this mode but started declining later on.
