* Few days to Shivratri but Peer Kho road still dilapidated
Sanjeev K. Sharma
JAMMU, Feb 12: Condition of many roads, lanes and drains in the city here is worst while the stray animals continue to make the life miserable and garbage dumps at many places are exposing the poor functioning of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).
Just make a start and move few feet from Radio Station at Panjtirthi-a road with pits stands welcoming with most of its stretch in worst condition and the same road in similar dilapidated condition goes till the main entrance of popular Peer Kho shrine of historic temple of Lord Shiva.
The broken road mostly witnesses traffic jams as vehicles face difficulty in moving on this dangerous road which is landslide prone at many places.
Sanjeev Gupta, 50, a shopkeeper at a small market with 20 shops near the Peer Kho temple said the road was made just two years back but as it is turned dilapidated, the same speaks volumes about the quality of material used in its construction.
He also claimed that their business has been badly affected due to the bad road and they fear if the same continues the upcoming Shivratri festival will affect the number of visiting devotees at the temple.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Peer Kho temple witnesses a large number of devotees on Shivratri festival.
Moreover, there is a garbage dump outside the roadside entrance of the shrine which the JMC has not relocated so far despite the sanctity of the place.
Apart from this the Jail Road Amphalla outside the Jambhu Lochan community hall is having pits since many months while the Police Station road in Tallab Tillo area is also in worst condition since the last some years at its Gole Pully end side.
Not only this, there are many roads and lanes-drains in Subash Nagar, Bahu Fort, Digiana, Satwari and many other places in Jammu which are still in very bad shape.
Leaving aside the bad roads and lanes-drains, the city has many garbage dumps, some at prime places, giving the place a very bad look.
Such a garbage dump at Rehari on Gurudwara road near army camp continues to spread bad smell and attracts stray animals which play with the litter there and spread the garbage even on the road adjoining the dump.
Locals of the area have repeatedly demanded shifting of the garbage dump but nothing has done in this regard so far.
Shavindu, 24, informed that few days back one of his friend-Jai Nanda was bitten, all of a sudden, by a stray dog at Gandhi Nagar near the popular Church.
He informed that stray dogs have spread a reign of terror in the area and often chase two-wheelers which may lead to accident.
There are many reports of such terror from stray dogs from other parts of Jammu.
When contacted JMC Mayor, Chander Mohan Gupta said that garbage dump near Peer Kho shrine entrance will be removed within days.
He said that entire area near the shrine will be properly cleaned and the traffic police will remove the wrongly parked vehicles there much before the Shivratri festival.
On broken road he said: “We will try to do whatever we can do but as the weather is not proper the road can’t be repaired immediately.”
Similarly he said that work on the Police Station road in Tallab Tillo will start as the weather improves.
Responding to the issue of garbage dumps he said that many of such dumps in the city have been removed.
“A very old garbage dump in Tallab Tillo has been removed and benches have been placed there after properly painting the place,” he informed adding that another such dump at Shakti Nagar near a popular community hall has also being removed.
On garbage dump of Rehari, Gupta said that as alternate to that is not available as of now so it will not be removed soon.
“As JMC has pressed autos in service for door-to-door garbage collection, the garbage at dumps has been reduced to a large extent but as some people are habitual, they throw the household wastes while moving in vehicles,” the JMC Mayor maintained.
On stray dogs he said that JMC is regularly lifting stray dogs and about 30-35 such dogs are sterilised daily.
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