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Perhaps nothing. From Telecommunications to Water Supply to Municipal Services to Traffic to Electricity to Healthcare, the story is same. Where lies the rot and why has it all gone out of gear? There is a need to introspect and take measures on the ground, as bare words buy no barely in the market, writes M. Ashraf
In Physics the “Laws of Motion” allow us to establish a fact that a fly wheel in an engine keeps on moving after an initial push is given by an outside force even after the said external force is removed. In fact in a frictionless zero gravity state it should keep on moving endlessly. The life in Kashmir can be compared to a fly wheel which has been moving on its own on the above principle of Physics! There does not seem to be any real physical intervention on the part of an earthly authority on a continuous basis to make it move in a proper and orderly fashion. In addition, if any part of the “machine” stops working or gets damaged, it never gets replaced unless there is apprehension of the whole system collapsing. It would be interesting to study the way some of the services operate in Kashmir.
Telecommunications
One of the most talked about service is the Mobile Network especially the one operated by BSNL called “Cellone”. No doubt it was a boon to have this service for one to one communication in Kashmir when the normal telephone set up was facing colossal problems of maintenance. However, after an initial start the service started deteriorating because it too was plagued by a number of manmade handicaps. First problem is of relay towers. One regularly reads about some dispute between BSNL authorities and the land owners in whose land the towers are located. Then the towers do not get proper power supply. Due to this, the computer relays controlling the network give interesting messages. The dialled number is “Out of reach”, “Switched off”, and sometimes “Does not exist”. Another shock is the failure of mobiles of either foreign networks with global roaming or even the national service provider mobiles with roaming facility to operate in Kashmir. This is because of the ever green “Security reasons”! The most annoying is the link between various networks. These networks operate in such a conflicting stance that it is impossible to connect between the two. It is said that they have provided a very narrow and limited connectivity between each other. No doubt these service providers are in competition with each other and their most important consideration is commercial viability but they have to keep in view the public convenience as the facility has been provided primarily for that very basic purpose. Coming to normal landlines, the number of problems that the set up faces can be seen from any DP Box anywhere in the city. The knowledge of knowing which pair of wires connects with which other pair involves the expertise of the highest order. The number of wires dangling from these DP Boxes on poles is a sight worth photographing for posterity. In a number of places the telephone poles are in the middle of the road and act as serious traffic hazard. The most ideal and the best solution is to get rid of all landlines and go in for total wireless connectivity. It will save a lot of money spent on account of digging and subsequent repair of all major roads in the city and its suburbs. The ultimate future of Information Technology is “Convergence” of all services through a single wireless satellite channel. After some time, we will be getting Telephone, TV, Radio, and Internet over a single channel that too through satellites. Let us work towards that end and save ourselves a lot of headache! In any case, one has no choice at present but to thank Almighty that things are still working on “Fly wheel” pattern. Two of their services which are currently operating do deserve some praise. These are the automatic complaint registration service and automatic trunk dialling service. This may be because these have least human interference. It would have been really useful if the manual services could also be upgraded. Till that time, one has to keep the fingers crossed and pray that the fly wheel does not break its motion!
Water Supply and Drainage
Now let us come to Water Supply and Drainage. We always boast to the outside world that Kashmir is a “Paradise on Earth”. We paint a beautiful picture of our valley to outside tourists. High Mountains, lush green meadows surrounded by dense forests, gushing mountain streams and sweet water lakes. One would have thought that all Kashmiris have the best water in the world to drink. Unfortunately, truth is quite the opposite. Even the capital city of Srinagar does not have sufficient water leave aside the rural areas. The water pipes have outlived their utility. These have been laid decades back and in many places are rusted or even perforated. With criss-crossing of drains and water pipes often the water gets contaminated. The pressure in the pipes is so low that it does not even reach the ground floor. Consequently a large number of people use booster pumps on main lines which suck in all the dirt and an abundance of bacteria living therein. In fact some of the localities in the so called “Civil Lines” area had to face an outbreak of jaundice which forced the Public Health Engineering Department to replace some of these old and worn out pipes. However, the entire fault cannot be laid on the Department only. People are equally to be blamed. On one hand they use booster pumps on the main lines while on the other they use drinking water for irrigating their lawns. With the massive increase in the population of the city, the existing sources cannot cope with the demand. This is especially true in summer when the average consumption of water goes up appreciably. In the famous tourist resorts the situation is worse. The water is neither filtered nor cured. It is just drawn from the mountain streams higher up and supplied straight to consumers. All the tourists prefer bottled mineral water. The situation remains unchanged even after huge expenditure on these schemes. The money seems to have gone down the drain in the real sense. Will we ever be able to supply clean and safe drinking water to all our citizens? It seems to be a distant and unrealisable dream!
Drainage leaves a lot to be desired. Just a shower inundates almost every low lying area in the city. On one hand are choked drains very rarely cleaned while on the other hand the dewatering pumps remain captive to power. They should be using diesel to ensure dewatering in all conditions but then who is going to maintain the record of diesel actually used? Invariably heavy rains convert even the posh colonies into mini water bodies. The drainage mess has many underlying causes. Firstly, a large number of colonies have been allowed in low lying areas. In the recent floods even the main office of the Srinagar Development Authority responsible for overseeing these basic norms was reeling under water. If it is the fate of their own office, they have no justification to question others about the location of both residential colonies as well as commercial complexes. Secondly, no one bothers about the basic requirements in setting up these colonies. We think of drainage only when the colonies come up! Then there is massive digging all around which goes on for months and in some cases for years. However, the most annoying thing from the department responsible for drainage disposal is the method and speed of laying these drains. Firstly, long stretches are dug out without bothering for the convenience of the local residents. Then pipes are scattered all over. After quite sometime these pipes are laid and the trenches are filled up. However, the filling up is never smooth or uniform and the particular portion of the road remains undulated for ages. The entire process takes a long time to complete. The worst experience has been in regard to the Lakes and Waterways Department Drain along the Boulevard from Dalgate to Nishat. The drain along the Airport road took almost three years to complete. All this while the local residents had a tough time in going in and out of their homes. It is especially a nightmare in case of sickness and other emergencies. This is apart from the traffic mess created by these partly dug up roads. The most incredible thing is that people have forgotten to complain and put up with this mess quietly. In any of the western countries the perpetrators of such a massive disturbance could face damaging litigation and would have to dish out millions as compensation!
Municipal Services
One of the really neglected sectors is the Municipal setup. In good old days we used to have a small Municipal Committee which would look after the entire city quite well. There used to be a Health Officer who would regularly check the food stuff being sold in different city markets. Sometimes dozens of pitchers of milk diluted with water and rotten vegetables would be thrown into Jehlum . The mutton sold on various butchers’ shops would be checked for the stamps of the Health Officer. Apart from this a large number of Safaiwalas would start cleaning the city streets and lanes from very early in the morning. Unfortunately the growth of the municipal setup has not kept pace with the growth of population. Moreover the whole system has got highly politicised. We now have a Corporation, a Commissioner, and an elected Mayor. However, the health and hygiene of the city is far worse than it used to be in the past. There are garbage dumps in every nook and corner of the city. In spite of several bans, polythene bags are scattered all over. On the river banks, in the flood spill over channel and all drains in the city. On one hand the Government has banned the use of polythene bags while on the other hand they have allowed a number of small scale units for the manufacture of these bags. The ban cannot be effective unless these units are assisted to modify their production line by going in for disposable paper and cloth bags. Secondly the people have to be made aware about the harmful effects of polythene so that they themselves enforce it. A good example of this is the attitude of local population in Leh where people themselves have banned the use of polythene bags! There was a time when a tour through the old city was a treat for foreign tourists. One wonders what their feelings about this dirtiest city in the world are at present? The Tourism department needs to conduct a survey to get a feed back. Before going in for setting up of massive infrastructure for the development of Tourism, it would be advisable to clean up the city and ensure its continued cleanliness.
–To be concluded
(The author can be mailed at: ashrafmjk@gmail.com)
