Locals Friday appealed authorities to remove high-tension wire passing over a fountain erected at Ikhwan Chowk Bishambar Nagar here in Srinagar. A delegation from the area told CNS that if the direction of the HT line will not be changed, it could become a cause of major tragedy some day.The four -way intersection has become vulnerable for serious accidents with commoners blaming previous National Conference, Congress led government for the nuisance.Locals said that water spraying capacity of fountain is around eighteen feet above the high-tension wire. The fountain whose water touches the wire could be the cause of serious accident when it is made serviceable in summers. When this correspondent tried to approach SMC and PDD higher-ups over the issue no official was willing to comment. Both the departments blamed each other for the engineering mistake with PDD cursing SMC for erecting fountain at exposed place while SMC censuring PDD for spreading high-tension wire over it.
"It happens only in Kashmir, development and trimming of historic city is appreciable but what about the engineers who have achieved degrees ‘accidently’. The authorities before erecting this fountain should think about the consequences," Farooq Ahmad an auto-rickshaw driver said. He blamed the government for haphazard construction of fountain at the four-way intersection saying "the government should either remove the fountain or shortened its height so that its sprinkle could not touch the high-tension wire". He claimed that the problem compounds when the fountain is made functional in summers as its waters easily touch the wire which could fall either on a moving vehicle or a pedestrian."This accident prone fountain should be removed, before it becomes cause of serious trouble government must seriously think about the safety of the people," he said. Locals said despite repeated requests to the authorities to look into the issue nothing substantial has been done so far."We cannot say as to when a serious accident take place, it is obvious as to when the wire touches water it will create a major problem which might be the cause of human loss," Majid Dar a local said, adding no one bothers to rectify the mistake which has posed serious threat to the people. (CNS) (Photograph attached)