Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, July 21

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday questioned the effectiveness of Srinagar’s Smart City project after heavy rain left parts of the Civil Secretariat under water, saying the government would pursue a third-party audit of the scheme.

CM Omar said the administration had inherited the final 10 percent of the project and questioned how the funds allocated for the initiative had been spent.

“Where has the rest of the Smart City money gone?” he asked, while criticising the gap between the project’s stated objectives and its performance on the ground.

The Cabinet had already decided to order a third-party audit to assess the project’s effectiveness, he said, although the formal order had yet to be issued.

The CM also acknowledged the long-standing problems with Srinagar’s drainage network, saying the government was using available resources to improve it but could not resolve decades-old shortcomings overnight.

He described the flooding of the Civil Secretariat as particularly serious, saying water had entered the ground floor of the government complex.

CM Omar said the government would conduct a broader inquiry once weather conditions improved to determine what had gone wrong and whether responsibility needed to be fixed.

The administration would assess losses suffered by residents and provide compensation in accordance with existing government guidelines, he said.