Toph Bridge, Vridh Ashram road worst hit
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, May 14: The agencies which dig roads for burying cables or pipes have failed to properly reconstruct many of these roads while certain roads in Jammu were not repaired and blacktopped for a long time and all this has turned the vital infrastructure into bad and dilapidated roads in the ‘Smart City’ of Jammu.
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There are also some roads in the city and its adjoining areas which have pits for years and none of the authority has ever bothered to repair these while the blacktopping over certain roads was washed away during rainfalls.
Some prominent spots with such bad roads include the popular Toph Bridge near Akhnoor road which is in very bad shape and the vehicles moving over it have to take all precautions to remain safe.
The New Plot road has pits at many places while the roads in Shakti Nagar and adjoining Rajpura along with the Subash Nagar road besides many other roads in the area have numerous pits.
The busy road from Ambphalla which leads to the Vivekanand Hospital, popular Gao Shalla and the Vridh Ashram, is also in worst condition while the road near District Jail Ambphalla also has pits which affect the vehicular movement. These roads have not been repaired for long.
Apart from all these, the roads in Shiv Nagar, Talab Tillo, Bohri, Janipur, Bantallab, Barnai, Gangyal and many other areas of Jammu are also in very bad shape and the locals from many of these areas have informed that the rainfall has hit the blacktopping works on many of these roads.
When contacted MLA Jammu West Constituency, Arvind Gupta said that the area which remained underdeveloped for the last about 15-20 years will take some time to get properly developed.
“Road blacktopping in Shiv Nagar and Shakti Nagar areas is underway while much of the works like placing of iron gratings over deep drains has been recently completed in Shakti Nagar,” he informed.
The MLA further said that the roads and lanes in Subhash Nagar are in very bad shape.
“As there is paucity of funds, I have put certain works of Subhash Nagar under flood restoration project,” he maintained adding that earlier he was of the view that the areas might have been developed as there was an elected Urban Local Body of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) but to his surprise the ground reality remained totally different.
“If we go with Constituency Development Funds (CDF), with just Rs. 30-40 lakh, we cannot even develop two streets. So we have set a target and will start the work step by step,” the MLA said.
Former Mayor, Chander Mohan Gupta said that the concerned authorities should give priority to the improvement of lanes and roads with street lights and should allot the funds accordingly.
“Electricity and water supply along with road connectivity are the three things which deserve priority,” he maintained.
Baldev Singh Billawaria, former Deputy Mayor said after the elected Urban Local Body of JMC completed its tenure, public problems in Jammu increased manifolds.
“As the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah holds this Department of Local Bodies, he should speak his stand on the Local Body elections,” he maintained adding that many road works are urgently required in Jammu and for the last two years no such work has been done in Gangyal and adjoining areas.
When contacted, Rajesh Kumar Agastam, In-charge Chief Engineer for Public Works (R&B) Zone Jammu said that all the damaged roads of Jammu will be repaired soon.
“Tendering process is underway and soon the roads will be repaired and blacktopped as per requirements,” he informed.
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