Srinagar, Nov 04: The deputy mayor of Srinagar Municipal Corporation said on Friday said that the corporation has sufficient machinery but lacks manpower to run this machinery.
Speaking to reporters at the SMC Transport yard in the Magermaal Bagh area of the city, the deputy mayor, Parvaiz Qadri, said that last year they were lacking the machinery. However, the machinery was procured through Smart City. But now they are facing a manpower shortage in the corporation.
“At present, some hoppers are run by people who don’t have commercial licenses; that is a violation of the law.”
He went on to say that he has convened a meeting in this regard to look into the matter, adding that he will only allow those who own commercial licenses. The department should think about this matter to avoid a loss to the government’s property. Only those who are commercial license holders must be allowed to run the vehicles.
Qadri continued, “It has also been observed that the new hopper vehicles were not made according to the modifications committed by the department.” The conditions of these vehicles have deteriorated since the company said they could manage loads up to 10 quintals. However, the vehicles have been damaged while taking the 6-quintal load.
It is important to mention here that there are 73 wards in Srinagar, and the department has planned to keep one snow-clearing machine in every ward to keep the inner links clear of snow.
Last year, the SMC also said that they had put men and machinery on high alert in Srinagar to provide hassle-free movement to people. They said that they have put snow-clearing machines in all the wards. But the people, in general, contested the department’s claims and said it took SMC 3–4 days to clear the link roads in tail-end areas of the city.
It is important to note that the Meteorological Department (MeT) has earlier predicted snow from November 5 to November 7. The weather is expected to be generally cloudy. “Fairly widespread light to moderate rains, snowfall (over higher reaches), and thunder are very likely to occur at most places in J&K,” according to MeT Srinagar.
