{"id":25658,"date":"2026-07-20T19:35:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/?p=25658"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:35:02","slug":"crores-down-the-drain-srinagar-submerged-after-hours-of-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/crores-down-the-drain-srinagar-submerged-after-hours-of-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Crores down the drain : Srinagar submerged after hours of rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, Jul 20:\u00a0<\/strong>Hours of intense rainfall on Monday left several parts of Srinagar submerged, disrupting traffic, inundating roads and reviving questions over the city\u2019s drainage infrastructure despite years of investment under the Smart Cities Mission.<\/p>\n

Waterlogging was reported from several areas, including Khanyar, Sada Kadal, Nalamar, Rajbagh, Dalgate, Bohri Kadal, Jawahar Nagar, Bemina, Residency Road and parts of the city centre, with commuters stranded for hours and vehicles crawling through inundated roads.<\/p>\n

Residents in some areas also staged protests, demanding immediate measures to address the recurring problem.<\/p>\n

As criticism mounted, Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL) distanced itself from the waterlogging and drainage issues reported in several parts of the city, saying many of the affected roads were not executed under the Smart City project.<\/p>\n

An official of SSCL told KNO that media reports linking the flooding to Smart City works are \u201cincorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe roads at Khanyar, Sada Kadal and several other places where drainage failures occurred were not executed under the Srinagar Smart City project,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

He said the Smart City project had executed redevelopment works on the Dal Gate-Gojwara corridor, M.A. Road, Residency Road and Karan Nagar. \u201cWe have executed these roads, but the drainage and sewerage network there was already existing. We did not undertake drainage works,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

Referring to the inundation on Nalamar Road, the official said the stretch was constructed by the Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department and not by Srinagar Smart City Limited. \u201cThe Nalamar Road was executed by the R&B Department. It is not a Smart City road,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, SMC Commissioner Faz Lul Haseeb said the rainfall had exceeded the city\u2019s drainage carrying capacity, adding that authorities had identified nearly 60 waterlogging hotspots across Srinagar where dewatering teams had been deployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cRainfall was more than the drainage capacity. We have identified almost 60 hotspots in the city and teams are being deployed wherever required,\u201d the Commissioner had said.<\/p>\n

The flooding has once again brought into focus the condition of Srinagar\u2019s ageing underground drainage network, with residents questioning why roads continue to get submerged despite years of urban redevelopment.<\/p>\n

Srinagar was selected under the Smart Cities Mission in 2017, following which Srinagar Smart City Limited was constituted to implement projects related to urban mobility, road redevelopment, heritage conservation, public spaces and civic infrastructure. Major works gathered pace after 2018 and accelerated ahead of the G20 meetings in 2023.<\/p>\n

Alongside the Smart City Mission, the Centre sanctioned nine stormwater drainage projects worth Rs 76.79 crore for Srinagar under the AMRUT scheme to strengthen the city\u2019s drainage network.<\/p>\n

The J&K Government recently ordered an external audit of the Srinagar Smart City project to examine its implementation, expenditure and project outcomes. Monday\u2019s flooding has renewed scrutiny of the city\u2019s drainage infrastructure even as SSCL maintains that several inundated roads were outside its scope.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery spell of heavy rain leaves these roads submerged. People don\u2019t care which department built the road; they want roads that don\u2019t flood every time it rains,\u201dsaid Zubair Ahmad, a resident of Khanyar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen new roads, footpaths and beautification, but if rainwater remains on the roads for hours, commuters continue to suffer,\u201d said Aamir Ahmad, a commuter from Rajbagh\u2014(KNO)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar, Jul 20:\u00a0Hours of intense rainfall on Monday left several parts of Srinagar submerged, disrupting traffic, inundating roads and reviving questions over the city\u2019s drainage infrastructure despite years of investment under the Smart Cities Mission. Waterlogging was reported from several areas, including Khanyar, Sada Kadal, Nalamar, Rajbagh, Dalgate, Bohri Kadal, Jawahar Nagar, Bemina, Residency Road […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25660,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25658\/revisions\/25660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmirthunder.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}