Srinagar's Future In Crisis, Say Kashmir's Former Top Officials

In a rare intervention, retired officers warn key Kashmir officials of toxic landfill fumes and unsafe waste handling amid Srinagar's planning failures.

- Ansar Hussain Dar

A landfill in the middle of Srinagar may be poisoning thousands, including patients at Kashmir's top hospital.

That was the urgent warning issued on Tuesday by a delegation of retired officers and specialists during a high-level meeting with senior government officials.

The meeting, chaired by the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, brought together some of the Valley's top administrators, both serving and retired.

On one side sat the Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, the Srinagar Municipal Commissioner, senior engineers, the Director of Health Services, and SSP Traffic.

Across from them was the Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC) J&K, led by former Divisional Commissioner Naseem Lanker and made up of retired chief engineers, doctors, town planners, and educationists.

Their message was blunt: Srinagar is sliding into a civic emergency.