GOVT CLUELESS, NGOs VISIONLESS
Aaryan Sharma
JAMMU: The City of Temples may have been witnessing mushroom growth of NGOs and self-styled activists working for the sole objective of rescuing ‘Surya Putri’ Tawi from the clutches of sand mafia and those dumping garbage and other waste material but in real terms no major headway has been achieved when it comes to preventing these people from further exploiting the river banks and spreading litter.
It is only on selective days these NGOs gather along the banks of Tawi with camera persons in tow where they click their pictures, standing in the back ground of king size hoarding and colourful posters and after that they wait for their annual turn to visit the banks of much bruised River Tawi.
On routine days the river bed is exploited by all and sundry and there is no effort made by any State government agency or any one of the NGOs worth its name to prevent the accumulation of heaps of garbage and waste material from adding layers in the river bed.
The sand mafia continues to exploit the river bed without facing any punishment while rampant encroachment of river bed has forced the ancient river to change its course.
The Urban Development and Housing Department, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Prof Nirmal Singh, may have been constantly reviewing the performance of the department but they too have failed to crack their whip against the defaulters and allowing the Tawi River to be exploited by the land and sand mafia.
Ironically, the NGOs, headed by senior leaders of Jammu, too have been maintaining stoic silence ever since PDP-BJP alliance has started ruling the State.
Barring attending seminars and awareness programmes, the senior ministers have failed to gather enough courage and order eviction of those encroaching Tawi River and exploiting it for earning fat profits. The most ambitious developmental project of constructing a River Tawi Lake is also going on at snail’s pace and the work related to strengthening of bunds and diverting main city nallahs is yet to be completed.
