Sgr City set to be at its charming best by mid-April: Chief Secy

Srinagar, Feb 27: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta on Monday said that Srinagar city is going to change for the better by mid-April.
“The city is going to change its outlook altogether with the completion of various projects which are at different stages of execution presently. These works would give a massive facelift to the city thereby enhancing its appeal for all the residents and tourists.”
The Chief Secretary made these remarks during his tour of Srinagar City which was meant to take on-spot assessment of different developmental works taken up under Smart City and other executing agencies around the city. He also fixed the timeline for completion of each.
On the occasion, the Chief Secretary was accompanied by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar; Commissioner, SMC; VC, LCMA; and many other concerned officers of Police and Civil administration.
The Chief Secretary visited different project sites under the Smart City Mission. He took stock of the progress of work on each of them and passed on several directions for their early completion. He stressed on timely completion of all these works in the wake of the upcoming tourist session.
While taking on-spot assessment of the Jhelum River front development the Chief Secretary enjoined upon the officers to complete the work by April 15. He asked them to develop the footpath including its finishing, cycle track, green spaces, landscaping and undergrounding of electrical cables etc forthwith. The project is to be completed at a cost of Rs 32.50 crore.
At Polo View, the Chief Secretary emphasized on making the entire area aesthetically appealing by adopting an integrated approach.
On visit to Dal Lake, Dr Mehta inspected the work of lake front development along Northern Foreshore Road of the Lake from Nishat to Naseem Bagh including pedestrian walkway. The development also has components of cycle track construction & viewing decks. He urged the authorities to ensure its completion by April 15. He also instructed for completing the lighting of Western Fore Shore Road by March 15.
The Chief Secretary highlighted the need for connecting all the houseboats with the STPs. He directed for utilizing the 36 MLD capacity of Sewage Treatment optimally and connect all the 900 houseboats in the lake with the Sewage lines. He asked them to divert the residual to oxidation ponds out of the 48 MLD produced daily.
He exhorted upon the concerned to start the motorboats to commence their cruise and initiate water sports activities in the lake by March 15. He asked them to repair all the Jetties and segregate them from the ones for motor boats.
Regarding other works he instructed for ornamental plantations on road medians, improvement of Dal Gate and Gupkar junctions, erection of around 1500 lights in the lanes and bye-lanes, erection of view cutter on all fly overs, sprucing-up of Iqbal Park, Boundary wall of Hazratbal shrine, Macadamization of city roads and the parking lot near Lal-Ded Hospital before April.
He also urged all the departments to carry out improvement, distempering, painting, focus lighting etc. of their buildings and sprucing up of green areas within their jurisdiction by the scheduled time. He further directed for making functional all the billboards in and around the city with banners relating to 38 new tourist & trekking destinations, heritage sites, Sufi shrines by the end of March.