Renovated Ganta Ghar to be inaugurated before I-Day: Chief Engineer, SSCL

Srinagar, Aug 07: Coming up at the cost of nearly Rs 200 crore, at least 99 percent work on the iconic Ganta Ghar (Clock Tower) has been completed here while the project is set to be inaugurated before the 77th Independence-Day on August 15.

Chief Engineer, Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL), Iftikhar Kakroo while talking to the news agency, said that the work on the clock tower has almost been completed. “99 per cent work has been completed and will take a few more days to be ready for inauguration,” Kakroo said.

He added that the inauguration of the project, that is coming up in the European design, will be done before the 77th Independence-Day on August 15.

Although the renovation of the clock tower, which started almost nine months back, witnessed a chaotic scenes in the traffic and also anguished the traders for quite some time as well, but as the iconic structure is taking its final shape, the people are getting massively attracted towards the spot and some of the pictures of the structure has also went viral on the social media platforms.

The netizens too have expressed their delight over the renovation of the iconic clock tower and praised the administration for taking the mission of development forward as well.

Athar Aamir Khan, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SSCL, has recently said that Lal Chowk is being tuned into a tourist hub, saying that the clock tower is just a part of the project, which also plans to give a facelift to entire Residency Road, Jehangir Chowk, Karan Nagar, and Batamaloo areas as part of the central business upgrade.

Pertinently, under the SSCL project, Jammu & Kashmir has got a first-ever exclusively pedestrian and wire-free market—Polo View and the Jhelum River Front, which attracts a huge number of people from different areas as well as the tourists from outside as well.

The administration has already said that a few more projects like these are coming up under the Smart city and will be completed within the set deadlines.(KNO)