Srinagar: The City's Underbelly!

It has been over a year now that most of the roads in Srinagar were dug up and filled up haphazardly. Due to prolonged delay in undertaking repairs, these roads have caved in and rendered unfit for driving.

The problem has been compounded after incessant rains caused water-logging of roads mainly due to defunct drainage systems. This is the Smart City in the making!

Undoubtedly Srinagar, the summer capital needs upgradation to basic infrastructure besides beautification. But haphazard execution of works is a major concern. We have seen how massive projects, especially Metro rail, were meticulously executed in our national capital Delhi. The Metro project involved massive land acquisition, ensuring safety of structures, relocating utilities, handling traffic diversions during construction across Delhi. There was no magic wand! What was planned on paper was strictly executed on ground.

Back to Srinagar, it takes ages for completion of development projects be it drainage construction or road repairs. One department digs up roads, lays drainage pipes and does filling, and next day another agency again excavates roads for laying cables!

The bottom-line is that improper and delayed execution of development projects is causing immense inconvenience to people and leading to cost escalation of works. This happens in absence of adherence to project deadlines and accountability to properly execute projects.

While most of the city roads are dotted with potholes, there is no effort by authorities to at least fill these up to ensure minimise inconvenience to commuters. In absence of safety measures, there have been many accidents due to dug up roads and uncovered manholes. Hardly any barricades are put up around sites involving road or drainage construction in blatant violation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

After devastating floods in September 2014, the drainage network in Srinagar was rendered defunct. Silt-laden flood waters choked drains. Authorities constructed a new drainage system but without proper outlets, connectivity with dewatering pumping stations.

It has been observed that most of the dewatering pumping stations don't operate fully in absence of round-the-clock power supply or effective generator facility. As a result, even a brief spell of rain causes waterlogging in most of the localities.

Climate Resilient City Action Plan (CRCAP) for Srinagar states that the Climate-Induced Impacts on the City water-logging remains a persistent problem in Srinagar city, particularly during heavy rainfall. It states that the city’s topography, which includes low-lying areas and inadequate drainage systems, exacerbates the problem causing a range of concerns such as traffic disruptions, damage to buildings, and public health hazards.

The sewage network in Srinagar city has a capacity of approximately 200 million litres per day (MLD). However, the actual capacity utilisation of the sewage network is lower than the designed capacity due to various factors, such as leakages, blockages, and inadequate maintenance. As per CRCAP, the Left Bank zone of the city, which includes areas such as Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, and Lal Chowk, has a higher coverage of sewage network compared to the Right Bank zone, which covers areas such as Batamaloo, Chanapora, and Bemina.

It states that in some areas of the city, particularly the old city, the sewage network is either absent or poorly developed, which leads to the discharge of untreated sewage into nearby water bodies.
The city’s ageing infrastructure and lack of maintenance, as per CRCAP have resulted in problems such as leaks, blockages, and overflows.

“It is concerning that only 18 to 20% of the city has a sewerage network, indicating the system’s inadequacy. If the city experiences heavy flooding, untreated sewage water flowing through storm drains would amplify the effects of untreated wastewater, as seen during rainy seasons. This surface runoff would become contaminated by the drainage system and eventually become waterlogged, resulting in serious health consequences.”

Till a few decades ago, Srinagar had a natural drainage system in most of the colonies. South city was dotted with wetlands which absorbed rain water and acted as natural drainage system preventing water logging in adjoining human habitations. In absence of regulation, around 20 wetlands were buried and colonies popped up.

As a matter of concern ecologically important wetlands in the Jhelum floodplains, which also acted as natural drainage, in Srinagar like wetlands in Hokersar, Bemina and Narakara, Batamaloo numbal, Rakh-e-Arth, Anchar and Gilsar lakes have been degraded due to encroachment and urbanisation.

Over a century old ‘Green Sewer’ catered to drainage of south city areas till several years ago. The 1.9 km long sewer having a depth of 15-feet lost its carrying capacity during the construction of a flyover in the area. Doodh Ganga canal from Batamaloo to Bemina used to prevent urban flooding after rains. Now this canal is buried under concrete constructions. This results in frequent waterlogging from Batamaloo to Shalteng.

Works on many drainage projects in the summer capital are facing inordinate delay in completion. Started in 2008, work on the 140-km long Srinagar sewerage project is still going on. The project was scheduled to be completed by 2013 and for the past decade has missed several deadlines. The project’s primary objective was to establish an extensive sewerage network across Srinagar’s Downtown, catering to 48,220 households. But it is still incomplete.

On the other side, three locations in the Smart City of Srinagar have emerged victorious in the State Level City (SLC) Beauty Competition-2024, organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, (MoHUA) Government of India (GoI), the results of which were announced on March 2.

The areas that secured the City Beauty Competition award are Jhelum River Front and Polo View High Street, recognised as a ‘Beautiful Waterfront and Market Place in Union Territory of J&K. Additionally, in the Municipal Ward Category, Rajbagh Ward has been listed among the winners. Well done!  But this is not the end and there is a long way to go.

Authorities and people need to join hands to really make Srinagar a smart city. It is high time to focus on Srinagar’s underbellies and at least ensure proper roads and drainage systems!

Author is Executive Editor, Greater Kashmir