STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Despite restrictions on Internet and mobile services during the unrest in the Kashmir Valley, residents of Srinagar submitted more than four lakh suggestions to the administration in a bid to help the city win a spot in the Centre’s Smart City project.
Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) had in September sought suggestions from people on how to make Srinagar a smart city. “We received over 4.05 lakh suggestions from the residents,” SMC’s health officer Shafqat Khan said.
Khan said the SMC used print and electronic media, besides holding feedback sessions, to solicit suggestions from the public. “We connected with 9.5 lakh residents through the outreach programmes over the past four months. Besides using print media, we took help of radio programmes for this purpose,” he said.
Many people visited the SMC office in person to give suggestions as mobile and Internet services were suspended due to unrest in the Valley, Khan said.
“Most of the people who visited our office were youths. It shows that the future generation is not indifferent toward their city,” he said.
More than a thousand emails were received by the SMC while many more chose to send in their suggestions through SMS. “Some people also connected with us through social media like Twitter and Facebook,” he said. The corporation also held essay and logo designing competition for its Smart City project bid and the response was encouraging.
“We had over 200 entries in the essay competition and almost an equal number in the logo designing competition,” Khan added.
The draft for Srinagar’s Smart City bid has been almost finalised but the SMC will incorporate useful suggestions, if any, received in the days to come, the Health Officer said.
“The bid will be submitted at the end of January but we will incorporate any new suggestions we find useful and worthwhile,” Khan said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is making efforts to get two cities — Srinagar and Jammu — included in the Smart City project.
