Sajidah Yousuf
Srinagar, Sep 13: Authorities have said that even after the passing of nearly fifty years, the Circular Road Project (CRP) has not been even 50 percent completed in Srinagar city.
According to the approved report of Srinagar Metropolitan Region (SMR) 2035, the Circular Road Project was a proposal for widening of roads in the centre of the city.
The documents available reads, “The Circular Road Project (CPR) is not even 50 percent complete after the elapse of almost five decades.”
It further states that the Circular Road Project which preceded the first master plan was subsumed in the master plan with the proposals for widening of roads in the core city involving the acquisition of structures, adversely affecting the urban design and the built heritage of the city.
Besides, the SMR 2035 further states that it was impossible to construct the habitable dwelling unit also it is becoming impediment in preservation of the existing structures and the byelaws which should never have been applied to the heritage core city as they provided for limited ground coverage and fixed building line were applied to the core city leading to its dilapidation.
“This was compounded by persistent neglect, two decades of turbulence, absence of heritage policy incentivizing the conservation of heritage in the core city,” it reads.
According to SMR-2035, the Master Plan 1971-91 and the development norms prescribed by the master plan discouraged the conservation of the built heritage and the repair and reconstruction of dilapidated structures, might have been the reasons for slowly converting the city into a slum.
