Srinagar: Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu on Thursday conceded that Srinagar Municipal Corporation was not able to deliver in the wake of recent snowfall and blamed the failure on lack of requisite machinery for the purpose.
“It is a bitter truth that the SMC is ill equipped. A few hammers, shovels and some JCBs are the only things in the SMC’s arsenal. There is a need to go beyond brooms and handcarts,” he said while conceding that it was embarrassing to see the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) workers clearing snow with shovels and that only 15 JCBs and loaders were not adequate enough to clear 15000 lanes across the Srinagar city.
Responding to the complaints about non-clearance of various roads and link roads in the Valley, Mattu in a press conference here said that the response by the Mechanical Engineering Department, SMC and Roads and Building (R&B) departments could have been much better.
“It’s unfortunate that only fifteen JCBS and loaders are clearing fifteen thousand lanes across Srinagar,” he said, as per news agency KNO.
While commending the job of SMC workers, Mattu said: “I have asked for the procurement of twenty-five snow-clearance machines but for unknown reasons machines were not procured despite having sufficient funds at disposal.”
Mattu urged the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to find out why the situation on ground was ‘ugly’. “I respect LG as he believes in delivering. I will also write him a letter to ascertain why it took too long to clear the roads,” he said.
He said Srinagar is the face of Jammu and Kashmir and that it has been neglected for the last forty years, “…but as long as I am here as a Mayor, I will push for systemic reforms in the SMC.
“I will push for the procurement of machines yet again and will name and shame those officials who are sitting on the papers for no reasons,” Mattu added.
