SRINAGAR: In order to decongest traffic in the Srinagar city and revive the centuries old transport besides inform the people about the environment friendly water transport, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Baseer Ahmad Khan today announced that the free water transport is available for public in river Jhelum for a period of one month on trial basis. Divisional Commissioner said that Chief Minister has a futuristic vision to develop water transport in the city for which two water channels were earmarked namely River Jhelum and Dal Lake. The action plan is prepared as per the water transport standards prevalent in Italian and other European countries, he added. Baseer Ahmad Khan further said that there is a dire need to revive the water transport to give fillip to the tourism industry besides extending means of transport to general masses which will decongest the traffic in the city. It will also generate employment opportunities for the Shikara owners besides unemployed youth.
The Water Transport facility will be available from Peerzo to Veir Chattabal and back to Peerzo. Timing of this free service is 10 to 4 pm. Later, these services will be extended to Pulwama, Anantnag and Baramulla, the Divisional Kashmir informed. Later, the Deputy Commissioner Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone had a trial run of public water transport in the river Jhelum from Peerzo to Veer Chattabal. Additional Commissioner Kashmir, MD JKTDC, GM JKTDC, Deputy Director Tourism and other concerned officers accompanied the Deputy Commissioner. Deputy Commissioner directed the authorities to ensure hassle free joy ride to the public on free of charge and on first come first serve basis. Mr. Lone also directed Tourism department to deploy new motor boats for this service so that people did not face any kind of difficulty during the free joy ride.