Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Aug 4: The Bus Stand inside the premises of Jammu Tawi Railway Station is in deplorable condition while outside the premises, the footpath along the road beside the Vaishnavi Dham, is almost occupied by the fruit sellers, compelling the pedestrians to walk on the road thereby putting their lives to risk.
The on-set of rainy season has wrecked havoc and totally destroyed the blacktopped surface of half of the area of the Bus Stand leaving behind only stones and boulders while the boundary wall separating the Bus Stand from and Taxi Stand has totally been damaged and the grills fixed on it uprooted. Moreover the footpath along this wall is in deteriorating condition and at some places it does not exist.
Some other footpaths have either been occupied by the travel agents of buses for booking tickets or dhaba walas. In the centre of the Bus Stand there is an open gutter emitting foul smell and inviting any untoward incident.
Though two toilet complexes one for ladies and other for gents have been built by the Railway authorities beside the Bus Stand, but only one of them is open for the people and other one is locked. The caretaker of the toilet complex told that both the toilet complexes are newly made and some work is pending there but to facilitate the people, the authorities have opened only one complex, which has been divided into two parts one for male and the other for females.
The water logged on the road just inside as well outside the entrance gate of Railway Station presents a bad impression on thousands of tourists, who arrive here from different parts of the Country, as they have to pass through the logged water that too filled with mud, to cross the entrance gate.
The footpath along the boundary wall of Vaishanavi Dham outside the premises of Railway Station is nowhere in sight as it has been illegally occupied by the fruit sellers, which have turned it into fruit market and the pedestrians are bound to walk on the road thereby giving invitation to any toward incident.
Speaking to the Excelsior, a fruit seller told that most of them have permission letters of Ministers, which is the reason that they are running fruit shops on the footpaths that too without any fear.
Joint Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Commissioner (JMC), Kapil Sharma, when contacted in this regard, said that under their anti-encroachment drive they have removed these fruit sellers many times from the place and even seized their goods and fined them but on very next day they again keep hold of the footpath, for obvious reasons.
The concerned police officer said that though it was the job of JMC, yet they have removed them many times, but every time they come with written recommendations or permissions of the leaders of ruling parties.
Speaking to the Excelsior, Rajan Mishra, a tourist from Bihar said, “I am fond of travelling and have visited many places in last four years but I have never seen such a mess as prevailed near Jammu Tawi Railway Station. These pools of water lying on the road and broken footpaths leave a bad impression on the visitors and the concerned authorities should do something about it”.
When contacted Station Superintendent, Jammu Tawi Railway Station, Ashwani Kumar, regarding illegal encroachment of footpaths in the railway premises near Bus Stand by dhabawalas and others, said, “We have no information in this regard but if it is this we will immediately remove them”.
Regarding deplorable condition of the Bus Stand, its footpaths and roads, Assistant Divisional Engineer, Railways, Manvinder Singh Khosla, said that they have already started the repairing work some days back, but he refused to give further details about the work. He only said, “Everything which needs repair will be done and soon you will see the change”.
But the president of Mini Bus Stand Union, Som Raj, termed the ongoing repair work in the Railway premises as totally an eyewash, as he alleged that the repair work is not done in Monsoon season. He said that they have been demanding since long the renovation of the Bus Stand area, which was in shambles, but their demands have fallen into the deaf ears of the railway officers and now when they have started the work, it is of no use as everything will be washed with the rain water.
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