Addiction, crime, water crisis major issues
Sanjeev K. Sharma
JAMMU: Like many other dark areas of the city, Ward Number-39, Tope Sherkhanian-Shanti Nagar, has also fallen prey to the demon of addiction and crime and many youths here are getting trapped in this dark world.
Not only this, many more problems like water crisis, poor street lights, no system of garbage disposal, poor lanes and drains, stray dogs etc are also disturbing the normal lives of people here.
Himmat Singh-a retired army-man said that addiction among the youth is a big problem in the Ward and it is a matter of grave concern.
“Police should work wholeheartedly to check this menace and nab the main kingpins to smash this illegal practice spoiling the youth of our nation,” he further said.
Another elder of the area-Kulbir Jamwal opined that the misled youth should be diverted towards sports activities but he expressed dismay as there was no playground in the Ward.
Sunaina of Tope and Rajni of Shanti Nagar faced problems due to no proper place for garbage disposal in the Ward.
A shopkeeper in the Ward said that the garbage container of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is cleared after four days and in the meantime there is lot of dirty smell, flies and mosquitoes which is a big threat to human health in the Ward.
He also said that the authorities should daily get the garbage cleared.
A school going girl Rajni said that she daily face herds of stray dogs while moving towards her school.
“It can make anyone panic and I have to either change my way or ask my brother to help me pass that particular stretch occupied by the dogs,” the little girl informed.
Many more people complained about poor water supply, street lights, poly bags etc.
After the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections held recently, the Ward has elected Rajinder Singh Jamwal as Corporator and now many hopes and expectations of people of this Ward are attached to him.
Jamwal is a second time Corporator in this Ward on Congress ticket and this time he won the ULB elections with a margin of 340 votes after defeating BJP’s Prabhat Singh.
Rajinder Singh got 1813 votes against 1473 polled to Prabhat Singh.
In an interview with EXCELSIOR, Jamwal endorsed the problems of his Ward and explained his plans to solve them.
Fixing his priority areas of work as repair of damaged streets and streamlining the water supply system in the Ward, he said: “Sewerage networking has damaged the streets and lanes where all the tiles have now become useless and I will first of all get these lanes and streets repaired so that people can walk easily through these streets and lanes.”
On water crisis in the Ward he said that the Ward has five tube-wells of which only one or two are functional.
“I will consult the concerned authorities to make more tube-wells functional apart from laying more pipes in the area so that scarcity of water should be no more there,” he said adding that two more tube-wells and two Over Head Tanks (OHTs) are also part of his plans for his Ward.
He informed that earlier the Ward had dug-wells but these were abandoned 35 years back to give way to tube-well system.
About the menace of addiction and crime, the Corporator said that police should act tough and put all those who are involved in such anti-social activities behind the bars.
“We will support the cops in ensuring a crime and addiction free society,” he maintained.
The Corporator agreed that there is no playground in the Ward but mentioned about a big piece of Government land near his Ward.
“Much of this 400 kanal of land has been grabbed by land mafia in Thathri Paloura. The authorities should clear the land from the grabbers to make a playground for the children there,” the Corporator said.
On garbage disposal problem in the Ward, he said that soon he will approach the authorities to issue dustbins to every house in the Ward after which door to door collection of garbage will be started.
Jamwal said that public should be made aware to stop use poly-bags as these choke drains and cause multiple problems.
The Corporator also said that as the number of stray dogs has increased in the Ward, soon the wing of JMC dealing with this will be asked to tackle this problem.
He also informed that he has good and healthy relations with other Corporators especially his colleagues of previous tenure and added that these relations will further improve in this tenure too.
Surprisingly, this Corporator had made no promise with the people during his election campaigning.
“I just told the people that whatever I could do I will definitely do for the best of my Ward,” he said adding: “People were aware of my work from my last tenure as it was a village earlier and I got all the lanes tiled, got street-lights installed, water-pipes were laid and the area used to get water supply twice a day.”
However, he said that public cooperation is must for cleanliness and all welfare of the Ward.
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