Jammu citizenry is faced with chaotic situation of unplanned municipal corporation services for reasons best known to the corporation functionaries. There seems virtually little or no movement of giving a face- lift to the winter capital. Some years ago, the Central Government sponsored the project of modernizing sanitation of the city, and in the process, grants were sanctioned for laying sewerage grid of the entire city. The project was well considered before funds were sanctioned. But as things go, the project was hardly launched when it began to encounter a number of obstructions and impediments, mostly arising from lack of cohesion among concerned departments and agencies of the Government. Contractors, who were allotted the task of digging the roads for laying sewerage pipelines, were obstructed by the R&B department for one or the other reason. Another department that jumped into the fray and made certain claims was the water department. No less active was the Environmental Department. All these combined to stall the task of laying sewerage pipelines. Anyhow having overcome these difficulties, the work of digging the streets of the city proceeded on a large scale and the entire city looked to be converted into heaps of rubble. Jammu has already very narrow streets causing obstruction to heavy vehicular traffic. But dugout roads and streets left open with heaps of excavated stuff lying on one side made transport through the city very difficult. Now we have traffic jams on all sides. It is tremendous waste of time, energy and money for the toiling masss and workforce.
A PIL has been filed in the High Court seeking court’s intervention in streamlining of filling the open dugouts and black topping the stretches of the roads and streets where digging has taken place. By and large, the project handlers of sewerage laying lines should be bound by terms of reference to do the black topping of the patches they have dug out. This has not been done and the responsibility is being shifted. The ordinary people are the sufferers. Corporation authorities show total lack of concern. It is a strange affair of irresponsibility and dereliction of duty. Somebody has to be held responsible for not executing the stipulations of the plan as set forth in the blue print. Rightly, a PIL has been filed and the Divisional Bench has taken cognizance of the case and ordered the concerned including Jammu Municipal Corporation to submit affidavits giving details of the roads where trunk sewer lines and lateral sewer lines have since been laid. The details shall be reflected in meters/ KMs ward wise/ locality wise. The authorities have been given two weeks to file the affidavits and they are also asked to notify by what date they will be able to complete the work It is unfortunate that the citizens have to knock the door of the court of law for its intervention in a matter that administration should have resolved long back.
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