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Tribune News Service
Srinagar, March 26
Terming Srinagar as the heart of Kashmir Valley, PDP president and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the city had remained and would continue to be the focus of her party’s developmental agenda for the state.
A party spokesman said Mehbooba addressed the party workers of Batamaloo and Amira Kadal and said, “Srinagar city is faced with huge challenges on account of civic infrastructure, housing congestion, heavy traffic, solid waste management and other civic issues.”
She said her government was seized of these problems and many mega and micro projects for city’s development have either been initiated or conceptualised.
The Chief Minister said recently she got the Rs 2,100-crore ring road project for Srinagar city approved by the Centre and work on the same would start this year only. Similarly, many other big projects which had either ADB or World Bank funding were being started, she said.
Terming peace as pre-requisite for undertaking developmental activities, Mehbooba said she was aware of the difficulties of people of Srinagar, particularly downtown city.
She said the people of Srinagar city maintained peace despite provocation during unrest last year which needed to be appreciated. “I know the brunt you bore (during unrest) as a majority of city dwellers are daily earners who faced difficulties but maintained calm,” she added.
The Chief Minister said she had planned to develop Srinagar city as a tourism destination. Mehbooba said former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had a special love for Srinagar and would often refer to it as his heart.
“During 10 months of his tenure as Chief Minister, he visited the city five times and even the last engagement he undertook was a long tour of the whole city,” she told the workers and expressed her resolve to carry forward this mission of changing the developmental profile of the city in the coming years.
Meanwhile, continuing with his election campaign in south Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Anantnag, PDP candidate Tassaduq Hussain Mufti today assured the youth of the state that he would struggle for their cause.
“Some people say our youth are misguided but I will say they may just be disenchanted with dysfunctional system,” Tassaduq said while addressing youth workers of the party at Pulwama.
Urging the youth to channelise their energy in a positive manner, Tassaduq said he had come in the system to try and rectify the wrongs in it. “The main reason for me joining the system is to rectify it and ensure that the youth are the real beneficiary of the development process,” he added.
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