The DC says the first priority for the government is to rehabilitate the shop owners in the upcoming shops complexes. Both these complexes would have the capacity of 120 shops and both would be made in the vicinity of the present shops.
“We have to first come up with the shopping complexes so that they could settle the shop even before we demolish the present shops on the Jehlum road,” Shabir Ahmad Shah, exective engineer, R&B, Baramulla, said.
The government is acquiring seven kanal land inside the main hub of the old town. According to a municipal survey conducted in 2011, the town is ‘worse than a slum’. The development is being undertaken in accordance with the master plan of the town. The cost analysis has already been done by the revenue department and the present estimate for a house on one kanal is Rs 23 lakh, apart from the building cost.
Apart from Jehlum road, there is only one road which divides the town in middle. It starts from Iqbal colony and ends at Rajghate area near Gurduwara. “We are also widening and making it a double lane road so that we won’t be completely dependent on Jehlum road. It would save a lot of time for the people travelling. A Detailed Project Report worth Rs 47.62 crore has been framed for the entire road widening inside the old town,” the executive engineer says.
Last week the government appointed a seven-member committee for assessing the requirement of roads for decongestion of old town. The committee headed by divisional commissioner, Kashmir, shall assess the requirement and come up with the recommendations for addressing the critical requirements which can be completed with a period of two years. It is supposed to submit its report within a period of two months.
The members of the committee include director, Urban Local Bodies, Kashmir, DC Baramulla, DIG Traffic, Kashmir, chief engineer R&B, Chief Town Planner, Srinagar and director, Area Planning.
The project to ‘de-congest’ the old town, according to sources, was actually conceived after the 2010 agitation in the valley. The reason, many security analysts say, was to try to decongest the 13 mohallas of the old town and neighbouring Azadganj. These areas were the places where most of the stone pelting would happen. These are incidentally also the places which are most congested like the old city in Srinagar.
“There is a growth of religious organizations in these areas. On the other hand, in the last assembly elections, only 56 of the estimated 50,000 voters in old town voted. The reason might be attributed to the fact that almost every mohalla had a warning pasted on the front doors of the mosques not to vote by one or other militant organization,” a senior police official posted in Baramulla said.
No one has determined whether those posters were really pasted by the militants or by the fostering religious groups in the town. But the threats had such an impact that, apart from the security forces, only dogs were seen on the streets.
If one visits the area in the evening, it is full of hustle and bustle. Small crumbling shops with customers lined up in evening present a different look and the market is lit up by gas lamps most of the times in the evenings. Prior to 1947, the old town had played a central role in trade with Rawalpindi and Lahore, providing services and logistics to traders and travelers. But after 1947, the trade route was closed and the old town’s economic foundations were shattered.
Slowly, the old town became mired in backwardness. Even today, many homes in its winding lanes have no proper sewage system. Young people are well-educated, the product of the dramatic reforms introduced by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah after independence, but they have little economic opportunity. Despite people being highly educated, most of the boys are continuously on the radar of security agencies; in some cases for no reason, an unwritten code which started in early years of militancy. Many observers say it is this kind of apathy and attitude which has made it a no-go area for the government officials.
When the protests took place in 2010 and 2012, the stone pelting would happen on three bridges in Baramulla and many youth died while throwing stones. The reason why the police was not able to come to old town was because all the stone palters would hide themselves behind these shops adjacent to the bridges and pelt stones which would give them an edge over police. These are the same shops which would be demolished now.
The deputy commissioner says Rs 1.50 crore had been spent on blacktopping roads in the old town last year which was in addition to Rs 1. 50 crore spent during spent 2011 for providing the various civic amenities under the special package for the old town. But even this special attention has been seen with much pessimism.
If and when the project is completed, it would no doubt change the way the town looks. Its interiors would be less congested and almost 100 houses would be demolished. It would be complete overhaul of the old town in terms of accessibility. At the same time, it would also ensure that the police can willingly cross over to the town with widened roads and no shops to shield the stone pelters!
