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| Desilt Ashok Nagar canal on priority; restore its pristine glory: Munish to admin | | Official apathy towards water body’s maintenance continues, say locals | |  EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 26: Editor in Chief, Early Times, Munish Gupta, on Thursday slammed the authorities for failing to get the garbage cleared from an old age canal in Ashok Nagar area in Nai Basti on priority basis even as the danger of deadly coronavirus is lurking over the entire Jammu city.
Munish, who would be contesting the forthcoming Assembly elections as an independent candidate from Gandhi Nagar constituency, said, “Human activity and administrative apathy together is contributing to slow death of the canal in Ashok Nagar. Considered to be a lifeline for the local residents, the canal is on the verge of extinction as the water body is severely polluted with the continuous garbage dumping and failure of the authorities to go for desilting and dredging after regular intervals. It is shocking to know that the garbage which has been accumulated on the bed of canal was never cleared since two-three years.”
Munish said, “All the previous ruling dispensations failed to chalk out any long-term plan to save the water body while the much-hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has only remained as photo-op for the political leaders as well as the administration. The failure of the government to regularly repair and desilt the canal has almost left it defunct.”
The Editor Early Times urged the administration of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to direct its officials to act and desilt the canal so that its pristine glory could be restored and spread of coronavirus can be effectively contained.
Meanwhile, residents of Ashok Nagar, Nai Basti while talking to Early Times said, “We have been facing several problems due to inordinate delay in desliting of canal. We are daily confronting foul smell, pollution and dangers of outbreak of an epidemic which has increased manifold due to the spread of coronavirus at a rapid pace.”
The inhabitants of the area said that the heaps of garbage get stuck beneath foot bridges that pose a serious threat to the health of nearby residents.
“Official apathy towards water body’s proper maintenance continues with who cares attitude. Owing to all this and the absence of complete desilting of the canal the water does not reach to the tail end. Everything that happens to canal matter a lot to us,” they said.
Unplanned residential colonies and illegal encroachments have also brought the canal on the verge of destruction while the people have turned the water body into a dumping ground of solid waste and sewerage generated.
“Rotten vegetables, debris, non-degradable waste can be seen floating on whatever water level of the canal is presently visible. Waste material is at every nook and corner of the canal but the authorities have turned a blind eye to all this. In the absence of any strict enforcement of the environmental laws by the concerned authorities, people are leaving no stone unturned to destroy the canal system,” said a local resident, Kali Dass.
“The poor condition of the canal is largely because it has not been cleaned or desilted for the last two-three years. Sewerage from households and loads of garbage are getting into the canal everyday due to which the depth and intake capacity of the canal is decreasing with each passing day,” he added.
While Kali Dass is visibly disturbed over the pathetic condition of the canal, he was also agitated over the laidback attitude of the PHE Department whose unprofessional execution of relaying water supply pipes has led to a chaos in the locality.
“The PHE Department had dug up our streets to replace some water supply pipes but after laying the pipes it failed to again fix the tiles removed for the purpose. It has created a mess in the locality as the surface has become rough and uneven. Two wheeler owners are unable to bring their vehicles upto their residences. They are forced to park their two wheelers near the canal thereby creating an easy opportunity for the vehicle lifters to strike at will,” he said |
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