Srinagar: A day-after assuming charge of Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Dr Shafqat Khan today said that concertina wire will have to go from the city limits.
“Concertina wire has become a serious public health hazard,” said Dr. Shafqat Khan, In-charge Commissioner, SMC. Besides, concertina wires are causing obstruction and hindering free passage to pedestrian movement, he added. “In view of the inconvenience, we have asked the police to issue immediate instructions to the field staff to remove the extra quantity of concertina wire from all prominent places of the city,” he said.
The tonnes of razor coils have become part of Srinagar’s landscape since insurgency broke out in Kashmir.
“We have asked police authorities to adopt a more humane and rational use of the concertina wire,” he added. Coils of concertina wires have been laid by the paramilitary security forces, Army and police especially around security installations, bunkers and police pickets. Srinagar is often referred as the bunkered city owing to the presence of large number of sandbagged pickets of paramilitary CRPF. “The concertina wire has defaced Srinagar. We have seen women, children and animals get entangled into coils of concertina and they get seriously injured,” Khan said. Few years back, Dr Khan as Health Officer, SMC, had asked paramilitary forces to remove concertina barbed wires from the city. He had shot off a letter to the CRPF inspector general, asking him to start the process of removing concertina wires.
Meanwhile Dr Khan also took stock of cleanliness drive in the city and kicked off fresh initiatives to achieve the goal of a clean and beautiful city. In an early morning inspection of the crucial water channel of Dal Lake, Chuuth Koal, Dr. Shafqat deployed 50 sanitary supervisors to clean this water body near Dal Gate area. Over 50 shikaras were pressed into the service to carry out the cleanliness drive. Its unacceptable to dump filth and garbage in critical water bodies and channels in the city. All ward officers, in whose jurisdiction water bodies are in need of cleanliness drive, are directed to gear up and ensure garbage is timely removed so that no water body is choked, Dr. Shafqat directed.
Dr. Shafqat described the water bodies as lifeline of the city and highlighted the need to preserve and clean them. He also took a round of the city to take note of the pressing needs that requires immediate attention of the SMC. The Incharge-Commissioner took a strong note of the defacement and unhygienic conditions of city stretches and issued orders to ensure no rule is violated. Maintaining hygiene is step towards a beautiful Srinagar. We all need to understand that a beautiful Srinagar is only possible when people cooperate to keep it clean.
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