Growing housing requirement a challenge

M Aamir Khan

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 30

As the housing needs of the Valley have been projected to grow manifold in the coming years amid haphazard mushrooming of colonies and encroachment of agricultural land in the past, town planners are now moving to the city outskirts and going vertical.

A report of the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) had termed the housing problem in the summer capital “acute”. The report revealed that 91 per cent of residential stock was built by the general public in an unplanned manner resulting in growth of slums and haphazard development.

While the Agriculture Department figures reveal that the Valley has lost 3.5 lakh hectares to rampant commercialisation, SDA figures say there is a requirement of 1.37 lakh new plots for Srinagar by 2020.

To cater to the housing needs, the government is planning to develop a few vertical colonies, mostly on the city outskirts and the SDA has proposed acquisition of 32,000 kanals in the next 20 years.

In February last year, the work on the much-touted Shehjar apartments, Bemina project, which would be Srinagar’s first vertical colony.

Deputy Commissioner Farooq Ahmad Lone, who is also the in-charge and vice-chairman of the SDA, said construction works at the colony were at the final stage, adding that housing was an ‘important sector’ and was on priority of the government.

Shehjar colony is expected to have 532 residential apartments with facilities like community centre, marriage hall, pent houses, convenient shopping, kiosks, tennis and badminton court, besides provisions for sewage treatment plant (STP), electric substation (ESS), solar street lighting and cavity walls/blocks for insulation and energy savings.

Lone said Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had passed strict directions to the SDA, Housing and other departments concerned for initiating and completing housing projects in a time-bound manner.

The other proposed housing project of the SDA is planned to come up at Rakh-e-GundAkshah, which is being projected as the ‘most modern township’ that would have a mini zoo and a golf club.

For the middle income group, Gulposh apartments are planned on the Bemina Budgam Road that would have one to two bedroom sets among other projects. All these will be vertical housing colonies that are part of the government plan to prevent the misuse of agriculture land.

Besides, the Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board had set up seven colonies in the Valley, including ones at Ompura in Budgam district, Bemina, Berthana and Bag-i-Mehtab in the city outskirts, besides Kanil Bagh, Kanth Bagh, Gutyar, in Baramulla but they were launched after the 80’s.

However, the vision for the completion of proposed vertical colonies would get accomplished after the finalisation of the Srinagar Master Plan that has hit several roadblocks in the past.

In March, the SDA itself had pointed to ‘grave errors’ in the master plan amid allegations that no proper ground work had been done by former officials of the agency for preparing the draft. The Kashmir chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) too had underscored the need of revisiting the previous master plan keeping in view the heritage concerns of Srinagar.

Later, the SDA sought suggestions from various experts, representatives of civil society, traders and students to draft a new master plan. Chief Town Planner Iftikhar Hakeem said the work on completion of the master plan was underway and it would take three to four months to finalise the same.