Vishal Sharma
When you get stuck in a traffic jam on the Kunjwani- Sidhra road or Kunjwani-Satwari road, its then you realize what a royal mess the city is in. A few minutes into the jam, your instincts tell you to make a push ahead as you grow increasingly restless, but a look ahead at the long queue of vehicles and you quickly disabuse yourself of this notion, preferring instead to bide your time. Traffic jams on these roads as well as on other roads in Jammu city are a frequent spectacle. All of us at one or the other time have been trapped in these snarl ups. But it is not something I am going to walk you through in this write up for we have traffic congestions in other parts of the country too; some are even horrendous than the ones we have in this city.
What is obnoxiously jarring is the way the construction activity on all the highways/expressways in Jammu city is presently happening. What do you expect when such mega projects are underway in your city? The minimum expectation is that the entire construction area will be suitably barricaded on either side with big plastic or aluminum sheets and not exposed to the public. The building material will not be so carelessly dumped on the roads as to gradually cover small stretches of roads on either side of the alignment that are presently open to commuting. Some mechanism will be found to ensure complete elimination or at least extenuation of the little dust storms that get kicked up every time big cars or trucks lumber along on these roads.
What more do you expect? Well, not much, but atleast that appropriate diversions, which can be negotiated by a person of ordinary driving prowess are set up along the alignment. That the neon signages or LED boards are put up wherever work is in progress to caution or inform commuters at least 100 meteres out so that the ones, who may be hurtling straight down the track, can rein themselves in well in time. That when big industrial machinery is employed for deep digging or massive excavation along the alignment, the relevant portion of the alignment is fully and properly closed to commuters.
Is there anything more that is expected from the standpoint of public safety? Yes, there is still more that you expect from those running these projects: When the massive deck labs are being lifted to be placed on the pier caps, the area is not open to public commuting. And when work is underway on pier caps or deck slabs,people are not allowed to drive underneath through the gaps in the piers. Lastly, the whole alignment under construction needs to be well lit or illuminated during the night to prevent accidents or mishaps.
Now, let’s see what’s happening. The portion of the expressway, be it atKunjwani- Sidhra or Kunjwani-Satwari stretch, presently under construction, is left painfully exposed orunbarricaded; the building material is dumped all over the place. The heavy duty earth movers, industrial machinery and other colossal machines do their work in full glare of the public. Little dust storms are a constant nuisance to those who may be allergic, as they continue to create beige haze all around the place of work and beyond forcing walkers to press their nostrils or cover their noses with handkerchiefs as they walk through these stretches. Work on pier caps or bridge slabs, and all along the alignment, goes on merrily without any guardrails put in place for commuters
In any self respecting society, this will not be taken kindly to. There will be resentment and of course petitions made to the powers that be for corrective action. In this city, though, people have simply not bothered to pause and take note of even as they painfully live through this experience on a daily basis. In some strange sense, the city suffers from silent sufferance syndrome; and it has cost it its dignity and something as fundamental as right to a decent human life. And why is it so? Well, because the silent sufferers have pitifully refused to call out the contractors, builders, and private players, who tend to be light on quality and safety issues.
Remember, when tax payers’ money is at stake, the ultimate say is always of the tax payers. It is the tax payer who has put in place the executive branch, legislature and judiciary to deliver governance and public services. If it weren’t for his/her money, how on earth will they function? Between the elections, one of the ways in which tax payers exercise their checks is through an effective, credible and apolitical civil society. It may appear to be benign on the surface, but it is an effective mean through which to seek to redress a wrong.
Where’s the civil society of this city? Where’s that voice that can make the wails of this city heard? Where are such minds as can stir those that matter in such cases out of their stupor? The civil society is an important bridge between the government and the people. It can act as an important pressure group too; holding those who are stepping out of the line accountable for not only what they do but also for what they don’t. All that it has to do is to do a bit of calling out of the errant individuals or corporates and, if that does not yield results, it can get the government to intervene. Some of us have been to the foreign shores too, and seen how such projects are executed there with a minimal fuss, but with abundant regard for public safety. Why shouldn’t similar norms apply to under construction projects in this city? Who will venture to ask why they have not been applied thus far?
The city’s moral fibre will only stiffen, if its civil society carves out a clear pathway to its destination, which in this case is propping itself up as the city’s moral sentinel. The city dwellers need to understand that there is no getting away from forming an apolitical civil society group. Absent this, and you have over dependence on the government, no third party oversight and no credible mechanism to force the warped individuals out of their inertia. In burgeoning cities where governments are stretched to limits and the infrastructures are collapsing, cities turn orphans,and are often left at the mercy of scheming, intriguing and self serving corporate,if civil societies don’t step up to the plate.Look at the positive outcome that resulted from the intervention of Kiran Shah Mazumdar, a noted Banguluru industrialist, when she said that poor infrastructure in Bangaluru (and she referred to potholed roads in Bangaluru) was the reason why new investment was drifting away from the IT capital of India. Her mere raisingof the issue propelled the government into action and a massive pothole filling exercise began in the city in real earnestness. Likewise, noted media celebrity, Suhel Seth’s calling out the local municipal administration for flooding in Gurugram during monsoons made the issue a lead story, both in print and electronic media. Civil society is an important stake-holder in the city’s growth and development; and there are many instances where it has lived up to its promise of a city’s guardian’s angel. But the plight of Jammu city is a stark case study in what its absence can wreak on a city that was once synonymous with vibrancy.
Jammu city needs an apolitical civil society with a face and a voice that is seen and heard equally by those before whom it has to make a case,and those on whose behalf it seeks to make such a case. Let’s remedy the issues facing the city before it’s too late.
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