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| Admin reacts as Mehbooba alleges Srinagar getting ‘distasteful, toilet like’ facelift | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Apr 19: Reacting to the allegations leveled by former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party President, Mehbooba Mufti that Srinagar smart city was giving “distasteful” and “toilet-like” facelift here, the administration has given a detailed response.
Sharing pictures Mehbooba had tweeted: “Excavating half of Srinagar for a ‘Smart City’ by reducing motorable roads to increase pedestrian paths isn’t just causing harrowing inconvenience. It also comes at the cost of aesthetics. Traditional & heritage style of architecture & planning is being replaced by hideous tiles seen in public toilets. Sad to see beautiful divarstones demolished to make way for tacky & distasteful planning.”
The Srinagar Smart City in a detailed social media response saying: “A city cannot be smart if it isn’t walkable!! Citizen feedback is extremely important & welcome. We request our citizens to actually visit the sites and see the kind of work that’s being done.”
It’s for the first time that such detailed response has come to Mehbooba’s allegations.
The admin added that “Why this is being made? There was hardly any waking space on the right side of the road from Dalgate to Nishat though most of the hotels, other properties are on this side of the road. The picture shared as old can be seen as reference. May be zooming in a little will help. That's why walking space is being created.”
The admin added “The road carriage is as it is since the road is largely uniform and geometry is good. The footpath has been made by using the space beyond the road carriage width, by clearing the debris, by reclaiming space along the edges and by aligning the utilities. Yes now the walking space is wide enough. And why shouldn't it be so that too around Dal Lake. If people can enjoy a walk around Dal, what's better than that.”
“The portion shown in the picture is an unfinished - under construction part at some spot along a 7 km long stretch any one can figure that out. It is also evident from the sign board placed next to it.”
The Smart City officials added that “The colour: The yellow tile is a tactile line. Now what's a tactile line. It helps our visually disabled or our citizens with poorer vision to walk comfortably. The colour yellow is most recommended along with contrasting colours of tiles. The tiles are standard tiles used for pavements. The quality is in terms of thickness, grooves for interlocking, material etc all is being monitored. Let's just wait for it to finish. The ochre colour with greenery generally goes well. And it helps the tactile line become prominent.”
“Devri Stone: If anyone who has taken these pictures would have seen the kerb line along the entire pathway, it is of Devri only. Yes this time properly chiseled and height kept at a uniform 6 inches above the carriage level so that it's easy and comfortable for anyone to walk for anyone to get off or get on the footpath. In fact on the carriage side the saucer for the flow of rainwater is again of stone only,” the Smart City officials added.
Observers said it was interesting to see officials react with so much of details.
“Lets forget about the lengthy and theoretical content of the response but the response has been made and it shows change in power dynamics,” said a political observer. |
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