| Municipal laws trampled in Srinagar as houses, hospitals, commercial establishments come up in same locality | | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Mar 12: Srinagar, the summer capital of union territory of Jammu & Kashmir is probably the only place in the world where houses, hospitals, shops and commercial establishments are found in the same locality. This has resulted into numerous problems for the residents of multiple localities.
People living in areas like Karan Nagar, Hyderpora, Tengpora, Munawarabad, Magarmal Bagh, Nowgam, Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, Rambagh, Solina and many others are perplexed given the fact that Srinagar Master Plan has gone for a big six there. The cropping up of hospitals, shops as well as commercial establishments in these areas had led to manifold problems for the residents.
“Not long ago there were proper municipal laws in the Srinagar city and the commercial establishments were found in specified areas of the city. However, over the past few years the municipal laws have been trampled with commercial establishments along with hospitals coming up in residential areas,” said Mohammad Maqbool, a resident of Jawahar Nagar.
Not only in the residential areas there seems to be a mixture of houses with shops, commercial establishments and hospitals on the bye-pass connecting Pantha Chowk with Parimpora on the outskirts of Srinagar city. The entire stretch of the bye-pass is dotted with houses along with shops, commercial establishments and hospitals. “A famous skin and dermatology clinic has come up quite adjacent to our colony and as a result of the same we are facing many problems. If proper municipal laws had been followed then the clinic would not have come up near the residential colony,” said a group of residents of Al-Noor Colony located along the bye-pass.
This group of people said that since scores of patients visit the clinic on daily basis the vehicles accompanying them block the movement of residents and their cars. They said that despite repeated requests the matter has not been set right by the people who were expected to do the same.
Residents of Magarmal Bagh are quite upset over the fact that a private hospital has come up in contravention of municipal rules. They said in past some clinics as well as commercial establishments had also come up in the area with no action being taken by the officers of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) then as well.
“We are not against the setting up of a hospital but that should come up in an area outside the residential colony. The municipal laws ought to be followed in letter and spirit by the residents. It is the duty of SMC officers and officials to take note of violations so that stern action is taken against the violators,” said Imtiyaz Ahmad, a resident of Sanat Nagar. |
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