Choked Nallah, play ground major issues
Govind Sharma
JAMMU: Widening of exit point of 4th bridge on Tawi River near Bhagwati Nagar, de-silting and widening of Bhagwati Nagar nallah and construction of a playground as well as public parking would be major challenges before the Corporator of the Ward No 14.
People of Ward No 14 which comprised of Mohinder Nagar, New Mohinder Nagar, Extension Mohinder Nagar, Ashok Nagar and Sector 1-4 of Bhagwati Nagar, said that due to silt and other garbage accumulated in the main Bhagwati Nagar nallah, they have to face many problems, particularly during Monsoon season when nallah overflows and dirty water enters into their houses and business establishments.
“In last over one decade, this nallah has not been cleaned despite repeated requests to the concerned authorities”, Madan Lal of Mohinder Nagar said, adding that due to flood in the nallah, many electrical and electronic equipments of the residents were damaged in August this year, as dirty water of the nallah entered into their houses and shops.
Same was the concern of Rajat of Sector 1, Bhagwati Nagar, who said, “We have high hopes with our Corporator that he will take up the matter with higher authorities and solve it on priority”. He also complained that the garbage is not lifted on daily basis by the Safai Karamcharis of JMC.
He further said that stretch of road between Canal Head and 4th Bridge has become accident prone ever since the bridge was thrown open for vehicular traffic but the Public Works Department has failed to construct speed breakers although issue was brought to the notice of officers of the department a number of times.
Dheeraj Kumar, a youth of Sector 4, Bhagwati Nagar said that constructing a playground in the area is a long pending demand of the young voters of the area. “Some land near 4th Bridge was approved quite some time back for the playground and a signboard was also placed there but the construction work could not be taken up till date due to unknown reasons”, he added.
People of the area also complained that there is no public parking in the area and inhabitants as well as visitors are compelled to park their vehicles on roadsides, resulting into traffic jams. “Moreover, the exit point of 4th Tawi bridge near Bhagwati Nagar is very narrow and it needs to be widen for easy passage of even heavy vehicles and convoy of vehicles carrying Amarnath pilgrims”, Raju of Sector 1, Bhagwati Nagar added.
Dilip of Ashok Nagar said that parks of the area need proper maintenance and further beautification as due to establishment of Amarnath Base Camp at Bhagwati Nagar, people not only from across the country but also from other countries visit there but due to insufficient facilities and improper maintenance, they gather bad impression about the area.
Parmodh Kapahi, who won Municipal election from the area for the second time, on the BJP mandate while talking to Excelsior said that he has already taken up the matter of the de-silting and widening of Bhagwati Nagar nallah with higher authorities of JMC and the matter is in his priority list.
Talking about the issue of construction of playground, the Corporator said it has already been approved by the Deputy Commissioner and a sum of Rs 50 lakh has been approved by the MLA for its construction. “Bottlenecks if any will be removed shortly”, he added.
On his priorities, Parmodh said he will make every effort to restart the work of Artificial Lake Project, which was abandoned after a lot of construction and expenditure of public money. He also expressed desire to install a large gate at Canal Head keeping in view that a large number of Amarnath pilgrims visit Bhagwati Nagar base camp.
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