Prof Ravinder Chadha
Since prime minister Narendra Modi has advanced the idea of creating 100 smart cities, the competition to be nominated in the list has gained the momentum now curtain can be withdrawn from the names of those lucky cities anytime within few days for the stage one selection. The citizens of various cities have started dreaming the future outlook of their cities and the facilities they will enjoy after their coming being.
This is natural also who will not be delighted to have smart governance, smart energy, smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology by having smart city status. Keeping in view the criterion laid down for getting nominations either Jammu or Srinagar in our State can be the choice, if the matter is decided on the basis of lottery, then it is sheer luck that can swing to either side but if genuinely decided after critical analysis, Jammu scores far more points in its favor and deserve to be nominated. I wish to labor my point on the basis of certain convincing arguments. In Srinagar ,attacks on mobile tower owners or their employees every now and then are being carried out systematically in planned way which will definitely by and large e-governance not only difficult but impossible.
Tax collection during last two financial years 2011-12,2012-13 in J & K ,was Rs 9624.63 cr through state excise and commercial tax departments of which Rs 7117.61 cr were realized from Jammu division while Rs 2507.01 cr stand realized in Kashmir division. Tax collection from GST,VAT and entry taxes to J&K is Rs 6251.98 cr , which is mostly from Jammu. Rs 31 cr was realized from Lakhanpur toll plaza imposing penalties on tax evaders for violating provisions of J & k VAT, GST etc.
The revenue collection from power and water resource sector indicates that Jammu pays 25 to 30 % more than Srinagar.
If one views the perspective from connectivity angle , then again Jammu scores more points as it is directly connected to many states and almost every visitor first drops in Jammu city and then proceeds to other destinations . so, it is desirable for any visitor to first land in smart city because first impression of the state carries a significant impact.
Climatically also Srinagar is not suitable for the tourists for the whole year because temperature dips low to minus degrees in winter thus bringing industrial, tourism activities to almost standstill barring adventurous sports. Jammu on the other hand is open to all activities throughout the year.
One comes across difficult hilly terrain in Srinagar where construction of smart building will not be an easy task while Jammu is an ideal place to erect multistory buildings, flyovers, broad roads to provide smart infrastructure. Moreover srinagar is already developed to its capacity. It has parks like nishat bagh, chashma shahi, shalimar, Harwan garden while Jammu still has a lot of scope to developmental activities.
As regards to education and health facilities, srinagar has already got its share, now it is the turn of Jammu to improve its scenario in both the spheres .
About two crore people visit Jammu for having pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi temple at Katra. They will definitely like to watch smart Jammu having beautiful spots. Developing smart Jammu will not only further boost tourism industry but also industrial and business activities because the industrialists both at national and international level will be interested to make investments.
Recently militancy has increased in Srinagar. The incidents of stone pelting at belt forces, hoisting of antinational flags have shown an upward trend. So long this trend continues and mischievous people in Kashmir don’t join the national mainstream , it will not be worthwhile to nominate Srinagar for smart city as it will be quite difficult for concerned agencies to carry forward the developmental work.
Moreover nomination of Jammu for smart status will definitely satiate the genuine desires of jammuites and I am sure that this will help in narrowing the gap between two regions.
(The author is former HoD Deptt. of Chemistry GCW Prade)
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