| In Nai Basti, choked drainage, water logging is perennial | | Area was off radar in BJP, Cong regimes | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, June 20: "Daily turnover of Nai Basti market is over Rs 60 crore. We all pay taxes, but the administration and the civic body have forgotten to provide us basis amenities." This is a common refrain of the locals.
Krishan Jandyal, a shopkeeper, is annoyed over 'missing' Swachh Bharat campaign, a slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during NDA-1 to make the country clean and garbage-free. Like Jandyal, other shopkeepers and residents of Nai Basti had the same grievance to narrate to Early Times team that visited the area on Thursday. Jandyal said that time and again they have taken up the issue of water logging and piling up of garbage in the market with the concerned authorities, including local corporator, Commissioner JMC the Mayor JMC.
"But our grievances remain unaddressed. It is difficult to walk through the market during rains. The entire area, in the absence of proper drainage, turns into a swimming pool", Jandyal said, adding that due to rapid increase in number of daily commuters and the residents, the existing drainage system is sufficient to serve the purpose. Madan Lal, another resident of Ward no.23, Nai Basti, said that it is an oldest ward of the JMC, but it has no recognition at administration level. That is why the area is being ignored by the authorities.
Tilak Raj, another resident of the area, urged upon the Governor's administration to pay a visit to the area to have a firsthand experience of the grave issues confronting the residents and the business community.
Pankaj, a shopkeeper, said that they are fed-up with leaders and their parties, as they do not deliver what they promise. "We have only one demand: lift garbage and end water logging", he added.
Another shopkeeper Sohan Lal, referring to PM's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan said that "unfortunately PM's initiative could not reach here." Manohar Lal Gupta, another shopkeeper, demanded insulated cables in the area. "It was a good step to avoid power theft when the Power department introduced insulated cables. But it seems that quality has been compromised, as the cables in many areas have burnt and due to sparks at some place electric meters have got damaged", he said and appealed the administration to take care of Nai Basti. |
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