Traffic, parking problem, scarcity of drinking water
Sanjeev K. Sharma
JAMMU: High vehicular traffic, parking problem and insanitary conditions, scarcity of drinking water topped the problems of Ward Number-15.
This Ward of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) comprised of Pratap Garh Mohalla, Raghunath Pura, Darugaria Mohalla, Barf Wali Gali, Panjbakhtar Road and Kaleeth Mohallah.
Like other parts, this part of old Jammu city too has many houses build in old fashion which unfortunately are rarely repaired.
Narrow lanes where sunlight has to struggle a lot to peep in, drains almost overflowing all times with pedestrians taking extra care to cross that particular stretch safely etc remain the very identity of this particular place.
However, an interaction with the residents here exposed many more problems which the people here face daily.
Bhanu Jamwal-a sportsman informed that people visiting city for shopping or for other purposes park their vehicles in lanes which creates problems for the people there.
“It leads to traffic jams in already congested streets which results in noise of horns and smoky atmosphere due to exhausts of vehicles trapped in the jam and local shopkeepers and residents here daily face a lot of harassment due to all this,” he said.
Payal Abrol-a housewife from Raghunath Pura informed that there is prevalent drinking water problem in the Ward which is not supplied regularly.
She also informed that in rainy days muddy water comes in taps which puts the residents here on a high risk of water borne diseases.
Many people of this Ward raised the problem of poor power supply and informed that for those who have no power inverters at home are worst sufferers.
A retired army officer-Jai Singh expressed concern over the youths falling prey to the menace of drug addiction.
“The youngsters constituted an important resource of the nation and the way they are being derailed to addiction by anti-social elements will prove detrimental for the country,” he said adding that this menace should be stopped at every cost.
Many people also complained about garbage disposal problem, poor conditions of drains and lanes, poly bags, cleanliness and sanitation, monkey and stray dogs’ problem and poor street light problems.
Prabha-a teacher told this reporter that neither there is any place for garbage disposal in the Ward nor has JMC provided dustbins for that.
She further said that people mostly throw their household and other garbage into a Nallaw that flows through Raghunath Pura to Indira Chowk.
“The Nallah ultimately gets choked with no flow in it and results in intolerable smell besides breeding of mosquitoes and flies,” she maintained.
After the recent Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) elections Sandhya Gupta has been elected as Corporator of this Ward after the locals here supported her with hope that their problems will be solved soon by her.
In an interaction with EXCELSIOR the Corporator, Sandhya Gupta talked about her plans of improving sanitary and other conditions of the Ward.
Starting with the addiction problem, she made an appeal to the parents to remain vigil towards the activities of their children.
She appealed to the police department to do extra efforts in this direction as lives of our youth are at stake here.
She said that soon there will be meetings to aware people about this along with de-addiction camps.
The Corporator then fixed cleanliness as her priority area of work and said that cleanliness and sanitation will be ensured in the Ward soon.
“As dengue has claimed many lives here in our city I will soon get the fog sprayed at places of high risk in my Ward,” she said.
On the problems due to stray dogs she said that mostly these dogs are found near eateries as waste things are thrown outside from such eat points.
“Soon all the eateries will be provided dustbins so dogs outside will get nothing to eat and will leave the place,” she said adding that due to certain laws animals like dogs cannot be poisoned these days as it is a crime now.
She further asked the public of her Ward to not to keep eatables at rooftops to avoid monkeys and added that work on street lights will start soon
On the issue of poly-bags she said that it is a big problem as these bags chock drains which further lead to another set of problems.
“The administration should stop import of poly-bags as their production is already stopped in Jammu,” she further said.
She informed that door-to-door garbage collection has started in many places in her Ward and the remaining pockets will too be soon covered by this as otherwise people use to dispose garbage in a Nallah in the locality or in drains which ultimately gets blocked.
However, she also said that there are hanging power-cables and some tilted poles at certain places in her Ward which also needs an immediate attention of the authorities concerned.
Sandhya Gupta is a first timer Independent Corporator and her Ward is reserved for women.
She won ULB elections with a margin of 315 votes after defeating Vinod Mahajan (Geetanjali) who got 796 votes while Sandhya Gupta polled 1111 votes.
She informed that she preferred to contest as an Independent candidate as parties have own restrictions and interests under which one can’t work freely.
She said that her election expenditure was Rs 40,000 and she did no promise with her voters but assured that he works will speak volumes.
Her husband Anil Gupta is a businessman and she is a housewife having a son Ankit Gupta, MCA, who looks after family business and her daughter-in-law Swati, is also an MCA.
Sandhya Gupta informed that she will work hard to develop her Ward on modern lines for which she will put forth demands and issues of the Ward during sessions and meetings of JMC.
She also said that right now she has no aim of joining any political party but added that if some party with good ideology to work for the nation approaches her then she will think over that.
She said that she will maintain a balance between her role as a housewife and as a Corporator and added that at both places she is getting encouragement and good support.
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