Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar is undergoing an unprecedented image makeover. The Centre, ruling the Union Territory (UT) of J&K directly since it ended the erstwhile State’s special constitutional position in 2019, has reinvented public spaces and landmarks. There is a rare bid to create milestones to contest the past marred by bloody conflict of over three decades.
The rights of pedestrians were restored by widening the walking tracks, with detailing for people with disabilities, in the city’s commercial hub Lal Chowk. The 15-km cycling track has revived the dying habit of pedalling around the Jhelum river in Lal Chowk. The meticulously laid and well-lit fronts on the Jhelum river and around the Dal Lake have motivated people after decades to stay out and absorb the mesmerising beauty even after sundown.
The all-pedestrian Polo View market and Ghata Ghar square have tourists as well as local families shopping till late at night. These late-evening selfie points mark an end of the era when Srinagar wore a deserted look ahead of sunset.
