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| Mubarak Mandi local residents stage protest, demands removal of gates | | |  EArly Times Report
Jammu, Aug 7: Intensifying their struggle against ‘dictatorial approach’ adopted by Mubarak Mandi Jammu Heritage Society (MMJHS), local residents of Mubarak Mandi and Pacci Dhaki comprising elderly people and women, and shopkeepers on Friday staged a noisy demonstration outside the MMJHS office, demanding immediate removal of iron gates.
The protestors raised slogans against the UT administration and accused authorities of turning a deaf ear to the sufferings of local residents who have been caged in their residential houses after the installation and closure of iron gates.
They said the MMJHS authorities have installed and closed the gates to restrict free movement of public just to hide their failures and corrupt practices being committed while carrying out so-called renovation mega heritage complex.
“We have been caged in our own locality without any passage. This passage was never blocked even during the Maharaja’s rule. The MMJHS authorities are resorted to sheer dictatorship which will not be tolerated at any cost. Authorities owe an explanation as what promoted them to install iron gates and deface heritage structure,” said Pushpa Devi, an 82-year-old woman of the locality.
She added that the MMJHS authorities been pushed the adjacent localities into the pre-independence era. “Thousands of people have been suffering but the UT administration has unfortunately turned a blind eye, indicating that the administration is bent on shielding the corrupt practices of MMJHS,” regretted an elderly woman of the locality.
Vaibhav Sharma, another resident of Pacci Dhaki lamented, “This unilateral decision to close both the gates has been taken without consulting or taking local people into confidence. Elderly people and ailing people have been facing umpteen hardships due to this arbitrary decision which has a sole aim of harassing the local residents”.
Sharma said the MMJHS has utterly failed to carry out renovation work and it has provoked the residents to divert the attention of higher authorities from real issues. “We also made a representation to the Director MMJHS but authorities have not responded to our pleas as yet,” he said.
“Only 7-10 percent funds have been spent on the renovation project during the past 12 years, while substandard work is being executed without any audit. Local residents have been subjected to such kind of hardships to muffle their voice as they have vociferously been raising the issue of substandard quality of work,” he said and demanded that the government should immediately order an inquiry to assess the quality of renovation work.
The protestors warned that they would further intensify their struggle if the authorities did not rectify their mistake by opening both the gates.
Different market associations have also extended full support to local residents and threatened that this move would have serious ramifications if immediate corrective measures were not taken. |
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