SRINAGAR, July 25: Water seeped into several shops at Srinagar’s newly renovated Polo-view market apparently due to drain blockage.
The Polo view is Kashmir’s first pedestrian-oriented shopping street and wire-free market and the renovated street was inaugurated by J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on May 12. The street, established in 1954 by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, who happened to be the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was renovated under the Srinagar Smart City Projects.
The shopkeepers at the street said this on Tuesday morning when they opened their shops they were shocked to see shops inundated.
“This is the first time that water seeped into shops here,” said a shopkeeper at Polo view. “In the first place we moved several precious items from the shops to drier places.”
Chief Executive Officer Srinagar Smart City Ltd Athar Aamir Khan along with a team of officers visited polo view to ascertain the facts.
The National Conference said the renovation of Polo View Market was executed in a “haphazard” manner with an “appalling disregard” for such eventualities.
“..Since day one, we vehemently asserted crores of rupees were squandered on the project, and within a month, our apprehensions proved well-founded,” the NC spokesperson Imran Dar said in a tweet.
The Srinagar Smart city Ltd reacted and said the shopkeepers have connected their sewer outlet with an old storm water drainage network which is legally forbidden.
“The fact that the shops are very old and having porous foundation and floor height below ground level, appears to be the main cause,” a tweet by the Srinagar Smart city Ltd said.
“Due to heavy rainfall, the drain had a higher flow that made the water enter the shops. The solid waste from the shops is getting directly discharged into the old storm drainage line which adds to blockage and thus reduces the carrying capacity of the drain,” it said.
It added that Srinagar Smart city has redone the drainage network on the plaza side where no such problem has been faced.
“Shopkeepers have been counselled to desist from the practice of discharging solid waste into drainage lines which blocks the drain and also pollutes the fresh water bodies,” the tweet added.
Last week, the government had faced flack after moderate to intense rainfall triggered flooding in various streets of Srinagar. (Agencies)
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