*JMC to frame a committee for its development: Mayor
Goldi Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 16: Jammu’s oldest playground is facing official apathy due to unknown reasons as the Jammu Municipal Corporation has not spent a single penny for its development under the Smart City Project so far.
Hundreds of crores have been spent so far by the JMC to become Jammu as Smart City under which various heritage buildings are being renovated, beautification of Tawi River and other development projects including roads, sewerage system, transportations are going on but the oldest playground which situated in the heart of the old city is deprived to get Government attention.
JMC Mayor Rajinder Sharma said that as such there is no proposal to develop the Jammu’s oldest playground under the Smart City Project but he has a separate plan to develop it so that the purpose for which it was established years ago would be fulfilled soon.
The Jammu Mayor revealed that he would constitute a committee of reputed persons which help to maintain the oldest playground not only for its cleanliness but also suggest to JMC for its development and requisite facilities.
The Mayor castigated both the premier sports bodies, Director Youth Services and Sports and Sport Council for not spending a penny for its development. “Both the Departments have sufficient funds for sports activities and infrastructure development but they never come forward to develop it,” the Mayor said.
If half of the ground, has been developed by the Sports Council as a synthetic football field, then why not the other one? Recently, the JMC spent nearly Rs 50 lakhs for making spectator setting tiers along with steel shed and other works which is not sufficient. It needs more funds for its development, the Mayor mentioned.
On being asked over the stinking toilets, uncovered transformers, lack of potable water facilities, damaged cricket nets and filthy setting tiers, the Mayor said that he will ask the local Councilor for its cleanliness. “The actual cleanliness of any property and periphery will lie on the civic sense of the local how they maintained their surroundings,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the playground has been used for organizing political rallies, social gathering and other purposes rather than sports activities. A writ petition was filed in the High Court over the misuse of the ground by the JMC rather than sports activities; subsequently the Court ordered that the playground should be exclusively used only for sports activities.
An athlete who regularly visits the ground for his practice said that from the very beginning, the Govt. (JMC) has no such plan to develop it as a full-fledged playground. It wants to develop it as a commercial hub by constructing commercial buildings but after the intervention of the Court the ground still exists.
“Now, it lies on the temperament of the caretaker of the ground how they develop it or leave it on mercy of God,” he asserted.
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