Ward 6: Flooded Nallahs cause damage every rainy season
Sanjeev K Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 30: After getting flooded, the Nallahs cause damage in Gujjar Nagar area of Ward Number 6 of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) during every rainy season when the gushing water from these deep drains enter adjoining houses while such houses have also started sinking and an immediate reconstruction work is needed on these Nallahs which could not be done so far due to paucity of funds.
MUNICIPAL WARD UPDATE
This was informed by Mohi-u-Din Choudhary, JMC Councillor from the Ward.
He further informed that there are six Nallahs in total that flow through the Ward and all of these get flooded in rainy season and the water enters houses in the vicinity causing damage.
“Especially the Nallah at Slaughter House and another adjoining to it needs immediate repair to prevent such floods,” the Councillor said.
Mohi-u-Din, who politically belongs to Congress and is a first time Councillor said that carelessness of the concerned authorities can be better judged from the fact that corrective measures for hanging wires and damaged poles in the Ward were delayed and the delay could have even caused some mishap.
In an exclusive interaction with the Excelsior, he said that areas of his Ward include Gujjar Nagar, Bawe Wali Gali, some portion of Prem Nagar, Mehra Basti and Gosain Basti.
Pertinent to mention here is that problems in JMC Wards still exist even after more than four years of the tenure of five of the elected Urban Local Body have passed.
Choudhary also said that 90 per cent works of construction and repair of lanes and drains have been completed in the Ward while a good number of Street Lights have also been installed there of which 30 per cent are non-functional.
“The agency concerned with repair of these non-functional Street Lights is not working properly and the repairs are being delayed for weeks,” he said.
The Councillor informed that though the blacktopping is badly needed in the Ward, the same has not been done there even after floating of tenders for five times because none of the contractors came forward due to certain conditions laid in the tenders.
He said that there are two Parks in the Ward-one near the Crematorium and the other at Lower Gujjar Nagar near Tawi River which needs face lift which has been delayed due to scarcity of funds.
Choudhary said that there is a playground near Tawi River while there is free of cost parking place with a capacity to accommodate 100 vehicles near River Tawi.
“There are problems due to sewerage project in the Ward as the agency concerned with the project broke the streets and roads and failed to get these repaired while the sewerage pipes also get frequently blocked at certain places and the litter comes out from manholes and spreads on roads and streets leaving problems for the locals and passersby and the concerned authorities even delay to correct the blocks which further adds to the woes of the people,” he maintained adding: “There are 32 Safai Karamcharis in his Ward but there is a requirement of 10 more and owing to this shortage, the cleanliness in the Ward has been affected though the Ward is a clean one.”
He claimed that though there is no water power problem in the Ward but still some places get dirty water in supply due to the wrongly executed sewerage work as pipes of sewerage and water supply pass together at certain places wherein some water supply pipes have also developed leaks as these are very old.
The JMC Councillor said that Smart Meters have been installed in the Ward and the public is not happy with these as these meters give hefty bills.
“One of the oldest graveyards of J&K lies in my Ward at Gujjar Nagar and it is a well developed one but its capacity has now exhausted so another portion adjoining to it needs proper levelling to facilitate the last rites of deceased persons,” Chowdhary stated adding that half of the Jogi Gate Crematorium also falls in his Ward.
He said that garbage autos are doing a good work in garbage disposal in the Ward and after these vehicles were pressed into service number of garbage dumps have been reduced to a large extent while earlier there was even a 35 years old garbage dump which has been cleared now.
“There are active drug addicts and peddlers in the Ward while cases of thefts involving iron gratings from drains have also been reported from the area and thieves even decamp with clothes left in open for drying,” he said adding that there is no Community Hall in the Ward.
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