Say when Baseer Khan was Div Com, there was no such complaint’
SRINAGAR: The inhabitants of several areas of Srinagar Saturday said that it was for the first time in past several decades that snow remained uncleaned from roads, streets, lanes and by-lanes of city parts.
Majority of the people while recalling the period when Baseer Khan, now Advisor to LG, Manoj Sinha, was Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, all teams would maintain a synergy and remove snow from even by lanes of the city.
The news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) talked to many politicians as well as the local people who expressed resentment against the administration for utterly failing to clear the snow on the roads on time.
“It was for the first time that the snowfall led to the chaos here for more than three days as it seems that the administration was in deep slumber and had taken no prior steps to tackle the situation in the aftermath of snowfall,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident of Nowpora area of Dalgate, an area barely three kilometers from city Centre Lal Chowk.
He said that the roads were being cleared within 48 hours after the snowfall, but this time the administration disappointed them completely as even after the passage of the five days, the snow could be seen accumulated on the roads, thus leaving the commuters as well as the pedestrians to lurch at large. “I remember when Baseer Khan was Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, teams from SMC and other departments would clean lanes and interiors of Srinagar,” Rashid said, as many elders present at the spot echoed similar views.
Imtiyaz Ahmed Bhat, a resident of Habba Kadal said: “The people at the helm of affairs were seen more focused towards modern technology instead of clearing the roads. The then Divisional Commissioner and incumbent Advisor Baseer Khan was missed this time as he always ensured early removal of accumulated from the roads.”
Bhat said that the electricity always remained affected in the previous snowfall and the roads were being cleared immediately. “But, this time, the situation has changed on the ground as the electricity in most of the areas were restored at earliest while people faced hardships only because of snow covered roads,” said elderly Gulam Muhammad Khan, a resident of Batamaloo, Srinagar.
Sources, however, said that the snow clearance process was deliberately delayed as the administration remained focused towards buying modern machinery for snow clearance, for which a particular person will be given a contract.
However, no one from the administration could be contacted to have comments in this regard.