*People will see desired change soon: Billawaria
Govind Sharma
JAMMU: Residents of Ward number 56 feel like sitting on heaps of garbage due to non-serious approach of the Jammu Municipal Corporation whose primary job is to ensure sanitation. The prevailing situation is also posing health hazards for the inhabitants.
The Ward mainly comprised of Old Gangyal, Ekta Vihar, Vikas Vihar, Rajput Mohalla, Rajeev Gandhi Hospital area and Sectors 1-5 of Gangyal Garden. As the Ward houses many industrial units, the air pollution is on rise and the people of the area are compelled to inhale poisonous gases. Moreover, no green area has been developed in the area in the shape of park to minimize the impact of air pollution.
“In our area, most of the drains remain choked due to less number of safaikaramcharis. Moreover, there is no mechanism to remove the silt from the lanes after cleaning of drains, an exercise which takes place only after repeated requests of the people”, said Vikash Sharma, a college going student living in Old Gangyal area.
Similar views were expressed by Ranjeet Singh of Rajput Mohalla who said there is need to fix responsibility for maintaining cleanliness and proper sanitation in residential areas as it is their basic right to live in clean environment.
Ashwani Kumar of Sector 1 of Gangyal Garden said that people in his locality are facing scarcity of water as PHE water supply lines are decades old and due to rust many pipes have damaged leading to leakages. Nisha, a house wife living in Sector 2 and Ramesh Kumar of Sector 4 also complained of water scarcity in their localities.
The residents of Gangyal Garden further said that due to encroachment by shopkeepers the main entrance to Gangyal Garden from NH side has become narrow and due to this traffic remains congested there.
Pointing towards power supply lines, Rishab Raina of Vikas Vihar said, “See the condition of these electric cables, these can break at any time and give invitation to a tragedy but Power Development Department is not concerned about that”. He hoped that these three decades-old network of electric cables will be replaced soon as has been assured by their Corporator.
Pawan Kumar of Ekta Vihar said that a vast chunk of land beside the canal from NH Gangyal to Army area in Bandurakh have been encroached by outsiders by raising ‘khokas’ and Irrigation Department is in slumber. He said the Irrigation Department should remove these encroachments and beautify this land by planting trees.
“There is dire need of a community hall in our ward so that poor people who cannot afford costly resorts may solemnize their marriage and other functions there,” said Prabhakar Singh, an ex-serviceman of Old Gangyal. He also demanded library in the area so that old age people and retirees may spend their leisure time in reading books.
Baldev Billawaria, who won the ULB elections from the Ward on BJP mandate, is Jammu district president of BJP. Earlier, he was Sarpanch of Gangyal from the year 2001 to 2006. While speaking on the problems of the Ward, Billawaria said that he wants to make roads, lanes and drains of his ward better and soon people will see the desired change as the work in this direction has already begun.
He said in the coming days all the old electric cables will be replaced and wherever needed, power transformers will be upgraded. “I am also working on a plan to provide 24 hours uninterrupted power supply to the residents”, the BJP leader said.
The Corporator said that he is also taking many steps and holding regular meetings with police officers to check crime and drug menace not only in his ward but also in surrounding areas. “For growing children and our younger generation, I want a mini-stadium in my area and we are working on it as we have 50 kanals of JDA land available at Balore Khadd”, he stated.
Billawaria said it is a long pending demand of the people to give District Hospital status to Rajeev Gandhi Hospital, where a large building is being constructed at the cost of about Rs 22 crore. The Corporator said he is honestly working on it so that people may get consultation of specialist doctors and proper diagnostic facilities there.
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