An ambitious Rs 210 crore project under Smart City Limited aims to revive Qalai Andar, the walled city in old Srinagar. The initiative focuses on restoring heritage sites and integrating them with urban infrastructure. A report warns that the area's ongoing degeneration threatens Srinagar's identity as a heritage city.
Qalai Andar, known as Sheher-e-Khaas, is a Mughal-era garrison city in old Srinagar that has remained isolated from the expanding urban areas. Under the Smart City Limited project, restoration and development efforts will reconnect this zone to the broader city. The report states that the area's tangible and intangible heritage faces a 'serious threat' from continued degeneration, endangering Srinagar's identity as a heritage city.
The redevelopment of Qalai Andar is described as pivotal to preserving Srinagar's urban identity. The Rs 210 crore initiative includes restoring key heritage sites, such as upgrading an abandoned site along Nigeen Lake into a well-designed lakefront, community park, Mullah Akhoon Shah Park, and Sharika Devi Park.
The project has been submitted to the government for approvals and is expected to commence this year, with a two-year timeline for completion. The old city wall will not be reconstructed but will be conserved. Other elements include full reconstruction of the Amar Koul Temple to restore its historical and cultural significance, redesigning the fort area to make it more livable and attractive for tourists with improved amenities, and restoring the Qalai wall and gateways. Pathways, drainage networks, bridges, monuments, and illumination in these areas will also be upgraded.
A core goal is to offer an end-to-end tourist experience to attract high-value domestic and international visitors while enhancing mobility and accessibility to this historical heart of old Srinagar. The report notes that the dilapidated old wall, once a symbol of imperial power, is now viewed by sociologists as a divisive barrier akin to the Berlin Wall. The regeneration effort seeks not only to preserve the past but to spark a civic and cultural renaissance in Qalai Andar, transforming it into a thriving, inclusive, and spiritually resonant urban quarter.
