J&K: Votebank politics, corruption kill Kashmir’s picturesque ‘Walking Mall’

Srinagar: East of Suez very few addresses have enjoyed the same romance and mystique as “the Bund” of Srinagar. But over the years, Kashmir’s only ‘Walking Mall’ was destined to die as all good things are in the restive Valley.

Jhelum, the ancient names being Vetasta and Vyth, and the sparking network of waterways it makes with Dal and

Nagin lakes form the core of Srinagar city and the Jhelum’s fabled beauty has been the Bund. The dazzle of the Bund came from all across Europe with the British and stayed as long as the fagend of the last millennium.

The Bund was the mooring site of first houseboats in the Valley when Kashmir emerged as an oriental challenge to Venice. It spawned an entirely new cosmopolitan character in the area that is skirted by the Jhelum and Tsunte Kul tributary. The island was where the Raj stayed in Kashmir apart from Gulmarg and Murree Hills.

The 1.5-km stretch from Ram Munshi Bagh to Sheikh Bagh was the walking mall by which lived the Resident, the missionaries, tourists and where they chose the final resting place of the Christian community in Srinagar. The Srinagar Club was the rendezvous. The aroma came from the best French perfumes and Havana cigars. The elite, the world over, died to live a night around The Bund or have an evening stroll on it.

The last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh had issued a decree banning constructions along the course of the Jhelum. However, the Srinagar Municipality granted permission for building houses and at one point in time the Maharaja found his own order becoming anfractuous and decided to withdraw it.

‘The Bund’ was the mooring site of first houseboats in the Valley when Kashmir emerged as an oriental challenge to Venice. The dazzle of the Bund came from all across Europe.

However, the death of the Bund speeded up post mid-1970s. During this time, the once-prestigious Kashmir’s “Only Walking Mall” turned into a nauseating scene with all kinds of dingy structures coming up over the river embankments. The Embankment Law was ruthlessly trampled as the shabby structures played havoc with the beautiful river line on the one hand and on the other became the centre of questionable activities.

The ongoing turmoil provided atmosphere conducive to the encroachment of the river flanks with the result that not even an inch of the embankment was left without being vandalised and encroached upon. Even mosques were built without seeking official permission or paying for the land on which these have come up which as per the Islamic law is strictly prohibited.

In the good old days, even cycling on the Bund was banned. Neatly uniformed tourist police officials would catch a violator and deflate the tyres of his cycle or fine him for violating the law. Today, not only light motor vehicles are plied on the Bund, it has been turned into a parking lot at places and even truckloads of building material and other stuff are moved.

Attempts made by successive governments to remove the encroachments and restore the glory of the Bund failed as these would be left midway to keep vote banks intact and for other short-term political benefits and buy peace with the encroachers who would come out on the streets to protest. Some officials have played soft with those who would grease their palms.

In 2002-2003, a demolition drive launched by the then Mufti Muhammad Sayeed government to clear the river embankments of encroachments and the effort made at his behest by the state’s Flood Control and Irrigation department  had made the Jhelum again visible to human eye here. Green patches on the embankments, construction of resting benches, raising of flowerbeds and planting of ornamental trees gave the Sonawar to Gawkadal stretch a massive facelift. But the Bund is in a shambles once again. “It has been turned into a virtual garbage trail and a dog’s walkway which is a reflection on the so-called progress and modernisation we have achieved after the British left,” lamented former director general of tourism Mohammad Ashraf.