The other day, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo reviewed the status of different ongoing projects of Smart City Mission (SCM) here in twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu besides assessing other schemes of Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UDD) under implementation in J&K during a meeting which was told that out of 127 projects, 117 have been completed and 10 are at different stages of completion under Jammu Smart City Limited (JSCL). Similarly, for Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL), out of 184 projects, 114 have been completed and rest are under progress.
In the year 2008 Srinagar and Leh (old) towns were included on the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) watch-list of the 100 most endangered sites across the globe. WMF is the foremost private and non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the World. That a foreign organization showed interest in preserving Srinagar’s cultural heritage obviously should have come as a clarion call for all the people of the erstwhile state that owing to their lack of concern about their heritage, someone from outside had to step in to wake them up from slumber.
The heritage in Jammu and Kashmir and particularly in Kashmir Valley has all along got very little or no attention by any quarter. The indifference towards this sector is not confined to the governments, that be, but to the general public too. While government’s lack of interest saw wanton loot and destruction of heritage sites, people too are no less ruthless and in certain cases have been instrumental in destroying these glories of the past.
While WMF showed its concern about the preservation of heritage here saying traditional structures built to survive earthquakes were suffering as a result of ongoing instability and conflict, local populace, more or less, has always remained indifferent towards this aspect. While all over world people feel proud of their cultural heritage and get inspirations for coming ages, in Kashmir these sites have always been treated as alien – as if the people have no emotional or cultural connection. People who don’t respect their history, their culture and their heritage are bound to lose connection with the roots and once this connection is broken, peoples’ identity is lost.
In this backdrop, the administration is expected to have a specific focus on heritage while working on Srinagar Smart City project. In the aforementioned meeting, it was said that under Smart City Project the markets in the old town of Srinagar will get a facelift. However, while doing so, the authorities should keep the heritage angle in mind and plan anything accordingly.