MUSHTAQ BALA
Srinagar is changing rapidly. Its roads are carrying more vehicles, its residential areas are expanding, its commercial spaces are spreading beyond traditional centres and its population is placing increasing pressure on infrastructure that was never designed for the demands of a modern metropolitan city.
The question before Srinagar today is therefore not whether development is taking place. It clearly is. The more important question is whether development is keeping pace with the city’s growing needs.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s early-morning inspection of Srinagar on Wednesday brought this question sharply into focus. Beginning around 6:30 am, the Chief Minister and his team visited nearly a dozen project sites from Downtown to Uptown, examining ongoing works and comparing official progress with conditions on the ground. He acknowledged that while several projects were progressing satisfactorily, some required greater attention.
That willingness to see the city at street level is important. Urban governance cannot be based entirely on files, presentations and progress reports. A city reveals its real problems through its traffic jams, overflowing drains, inadequate parking spaces, damaged roads, crowded markets and neighbourhoods struggling with basic civic infrastructure.
A city running out of space
Perhaps nowhere is the pressure more visible than in Srinagar’s historic core.
The Shehr-e-Khaas remains the cultural and commercial heart of the city, but its narrow roads and dense settlements were never designed for the volume of modern traffic now passing through them. Parking has become a particularly serious problem, and the Chief Minister himself identified the shortage of parking space in Downtown as one of Srinagar’s major challenges.
But building more roads alone cannot solve the problem.
Srinagar needs a comprehensive mobility strategy—better public transport, organised parking, pedestrian-friendly streets, intelligent traffic management and restrictions on unnecessary private vehicle movement in congested areas.
The objective should not simply be to move more cars. It should be to move people more efficiently.
Drainage cannot remain an afterthought
Waterlogging is another recurring reminder of the consequences of unplanned urban growth.
Omar Abdullah has described Srinagar’s waterlogging problem as a longstanding issue, pointing out that several colonies developed without adequate drainage systems. The administration has identified vulnerable locations and plans to increase pumping capacity during periods of heavy rainfall, while longer-term drainage projects are being planned.
Emergency pumping can provide relief, but it cannot become the permanent urban-planning model.
Every new residential colony, commercial complex and road project must be assessed in terms of drainage, flood vulnerability and the natural movement of water. Srinagar’s relationship with its wetlands, lakes, waterways and flood channels cannot be treated as separate from its urban development.
The city’s ecological infrastructure is, in many ways, as important as its roads and bridges.
The Master Plan must live beyond the file
Srinagar already has a Master Plan 2035. The document was conceived as a comprehensive framework for the city’s development and land use. (Srinagar Development Authority)
The challenge is implementation.
A master plan is meaningful only when development on the ground follows its principles. Unplanned construction, pressure on open spaces, inadequate parking, congestion and the expansion of settlements without corresponding civic infrastructure all raise questions about the relationship between planning and actual growth.
Srinagar needs a planning culture in which infrastructure is created before a crisis becomes unavoidable—not after residents begin demanding emergency solutions.
Development must protect the old city
There is another dimension that cannot be ignored.
Srinagar is not an ordinary city. Its identity is embedded in its historic neighbourhoods, traditional architecture, shrines, mosques, temples, bridges, waterways, markets, crafts and cultural spaces.
The Shehr-e-Khaas should not be forced to choose between heritage and development.
The answer lies in sensitive urban renewal: improved sanitation, drainage, electricity, pedestrian movement, fire safety, parking at appropriate locations and restoration of historic structures without destroying the character of traditional neighbourhoods.
Modernisation should not mean replacing Srinagar’s identity with an anonymous concrete landscape.
From projects to an urban vision
The government has announced and undertaken numerous infrastructure projects. Roads, bridges, healthcare facilities, water supply schemes and other civic works are essential.
But Srinagar now needs something larger: an integrated urban vision.
Traffic, housing, drainage, waste management, public transport, tourism, heritage conservation, parking, water bodies and environmental protection cannot be planned independently.
A new road can change traffic patterns in another part of the city. A new housing colony can increase pressure on drainage and water supply. A commercial project can generate parking demand. A damaged wetland can affect flood management.
Everything is connected.
The administration’s recent emphasis on transparent and efficient urban development, along with the call for improved housing and parking facilities, provides an opportunity to move towards this integrated approach. (The Tribune)
The citizen must be part of the plan
Srinagar’s future cannot be designed entirely inside government offices.
Residents, traders, transporters, architects, engineers, environmental experts, heritage conservationists, academics and civil society organisations should have a meaningful role in shaping the city’s next phase.
Public consultations should not be limited to formalities. People who live with a problem every day often understand its practical dimensions better than anyone else.
The administration should also consider publicly accessible progress dashboards for major urban projects—showing timelines, costs, contractors, stages of completion and reasons for delays.
Transparency can turn development from a government programme into a public partnership.
The road ahead
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has rightly pointed to the importance of comparing what officials report with what exists on the ground. That approach should become a regular feature of urban governance rather than an occasional exercise.
Srinagar does not need development for the sake of development.
It needs better development.
It needs roads that reduce congestion rather than merely shift it; drainage that prevents flooding rather than responds to it; parking that is planned rather than improvised; housing that does not create new infrastructure crises; and urban renewal that preserves the character of the city.
Most importantly, Srinagar needs a long-term vision that looks beyond the next project and asks what kind of city its children will inherit.
The crossroads before Srinagar is therefore not simply about choosing between old and new.
It is about finding a way to make heritage and modernity, growth and ecology, mobility and liveability coexist.
The city has reached a point where piecemeal solutions are no longer enough.
The next chapter of Srinagar must be planned—not merely built.
Mushtaq Bala is Editor-in-Chief of Kashmir Pen, an award-winning filmmaker, cultural commentator, and advocate for peace through narrative media.
