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| City turned into cesspool of filth and stink | | Where is JMC? | | Early Times Special Correspondent
Jammu | Nov 24
The entire old Jammu city has lately come to become a cesspool of filth, garbage and stinking foul water. Even the posh Residency Road, where VIPs including the Chief Minister are on prowl is not without liberal flow of filthy and stinking water with heaps of garbage and night soil spilling out on the road side overflowing from the choked drains, with knee deep filthy water making passing on the road by pedestrians next to impossible, while motorists sprinkle the filthy water with their running wheels on the faces of the passers by. Raghunath Bazar is no exception. Even after the area has been declared out of bound for all vehicular traffic, barring the two wheelers, the overflowing of stinking foul water coming from the choked drains in the side lanes makes the passage through miserable.
The worst is the state of affair at Rajinder Bazar and side lanes. The filthy water spilling over from the choked drains overflows on the main road right from Kanak Mandi-Lakhdata Bazar-Rajinder Bazar crossing to Shahidi Chowk. For last over fortnight knee deep water filled with night soil, urine and all sorts of stinks has got settled in Baba Jeevan Shah mosque area, with the results that the residents have no other alternative than to wade through the same by rolling their pants and salwars above knees. The leaking PHE pipes compound the misery of the people. The early morning walkers, particularly are faced with breathing foul and stinking smell, instead of fresh air.
While all this speaks volumes about the apathy of the civic body, the residents and shopkeepers in the area are themselves to be blamed for this miserable scenario. Household wastes packed in polythene bags is thrown on the roadside, while the shopkeepers put the entire dust and waste after sweeping their shops as well as packing material like dry hay and synthetic packing on the roadside. With night sweeping suspended by the JMC, after elected corporation having come into being, these heaps of filth and garbage remain dumped there till late in the morning and sometimes for the whole day. While this is the scenario of sanitation and cleanliness, the traffic chaos presents the worst picture. Lately footpath on one side of Rajinder Bazar and Residency Road has been laid as high as three feet above the main road making alighting it impossible for the elderly and physically weak people, in practice these pavements have become expansion of the shops, with the shopkeepers displaying their merchandise on the high footpaths which are at the level of entrance of their shops. Bundles of goods keep lying on the pavements, pending their unpacking and then adjustment or disposal. This makes the passing by the pedestrians a hell of job, forcing them to walk on the road itself, risking being knocked down by the motorists and more so by the two wheelers. The two wheelers are a great nuisance even in the lanes and narrow by lanes with the riders least caring for the foot walkers' safety and invariably hitting and knocking down them.
With the process of repairs, renovation and remodeling and upgrading some of the areas being so slow that months together pass before the ditches dug are filled and made walk worthy. Even on the posh Shahidi Chowk, where a huge sewage pipe was laid across the main road leading towards by lane to DPS, even after passage of two months of taking in hand of the work, the same is not completed, with the result that passing on the footpath has become a hell of job. This is notwithstanding the fact that DPS had to remain closed for a fortnight, since no traffic could pass through the lane, to facilitate the lying of sewage pipe and construction of road, unhampered by the traffic.
It was expected that with the elected representatives of the people manning the civic body of Jammu and more so with its upgradation from Municipal Council to Municipal Corporation, the civic amenities, mainly the sanitation and cleanliness and free flow of drains will improve. But regrettably the situation has deteriorated. While all this reflects on the working of the JMC, which is controlled by the state ruling party Congress and it is hoped that the government would be fully cooperating with the corporation to solve and streamline the civic administration of the city, the councilors belonging to the opposition parties too are to be blamed for not raising their voice against this sorry state of affairs. |
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