Broken roads, choked drains main issues
Govind Sharma
JAMMU: Broken roads, choked drains and heaps of garbage in every mohalla are the main cause of concern for the residents of Ward No 44 of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).
The Ward has been neglected in terms of development as 90% of the roads are completely damaged and need immediate blacktopping while draining system is craving for attention of the Municipal authorities.
Some residents of the Ward told Excelsior that the last Municipal elections were held in the State in the year 2005, when a woman got mandate of the people of the Ward but she could hardly complete half term due to her untimely demise. They said due to untimely demise of the last Corporator, the Ward which comprises of Sector 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Nanak Nagar, besides Panama Chowk area, lagged behind in development front.
Harpal Singh of Sector 11, Nanak Nagar said, “Almost all roads of Sector 11 are completely damaged and those having two-wheelers are suffering most as it is almost impossible to ply on these accident-prone roads. Everyone wants to escape the pot holes and in this attempt, many vehicles went on wrong side and collided with each other”. He said same is the condition of roads in Sector 7, 12 and 13.
“Some of these roads were blacktopped only last year. The large potholes speak about the sub-standard work done by the concerned agencies,” Nishant Gupta of Ward 13 said and hoped the newly elected Corporator would take initiative to blacktop all these damaged roads on priority and ensure quality work is done by the contractors.
Another resident of the Ward living in Sector 12, Rajan Sharma, said that the drainage nallah which passes through almost all sectors of the Nanak Nagar plays havoc in Monsoon season every year when filthy water of the nallah enters into the houses of the people living along the nallah and damage household articles.
He said such is the panic of the nallah that people living near it have raised ‘plinths’ of three feet height inside their entrance gates to prevent the water of the flooded nallah from entering into their houses.
Joginder Singh, a small businessman of Sector 7 said that drainage system of the Ward is pathetic. “The drains are very old and need immediate repair”, he added.
“There are no functional street lights in our area due to which darkness prevails during night in most of the localities,” said Simran Kour, a young housewife living in Sector 13, adding, in the absence of street lights, the women, children and elders have to face many problems during ‘Prabhat Pheri’ as they stumbled due to potholes of the roads which are not easily visible in the wee hours.
Onkar Singh of Sector 7 said that there are a few garbage bins in the area. “As there is no system for door to door collection of waste in the Ward, most of the residents opt to throw household waste at some common points in nook and corners of the lanes”, he added.
“About 20 safai karamcharis have been deployed in the Ward but only 10-12 attend their duties. The JMC vehicles also come thrice a week as a result of which heaps of garbage can be easily seen in the area”, he added.
Ashok Gupta of Sector 14 said that there is neither a community hall nor a park in the Ward and people have high hopes with their Corporator that he will work to arrange at least a park and a community hall in the Ward. He further said that illegal construction of shops and houses is being done in various parts of the Ward in connivance with the field functionaries of JMC thereby depriving the department from revenue on account of NoC for construction activities.
Corporator of the Ward, Inder Singh Sudan, who won the ULB elections as Independent candidate, said that he is committed for the development of his Ward and making all out efforts for the same. “However, over one month has passed and even a single development Work has not been started in his ward due to non-cooperation by the officers/officials of the JMC,” he lamented.
“After many requests to XEn of JMC, I got 10 street lights for his Ward but that too without requisite hardware for their installation,” the Corporator alleged and regretted that even in Governor rule, independent Corporators are facing discrimination. He said no officer listens to the Independent Corporators and in this scenario; it has become difficult for them to work for the development of their respective wards.
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