Ar. Sandeep Dhar
INTRODUCTION:- Departments are working on pick-ups and parcels without co-ordination leading to everyone striving for city development without awareness of each other’s efforts.
The departments tend to adopt nomenclatures such as footpath, traffic management without conducting through surveys or utilizing questionaries’ in their cities. This approach begs the question of whether it genuinely constitutes city development. Departments often undertake city projects without conductions comprehensive surveys or understanding the genuine requirements. This repetitive copy-paste approach to development raises concerns about whether it truly contributes to meaningful and effective city development.
The Situation where various departments in Jammu City are independently listing their respective job projects without co-ordination could potentially lead to inefficiencies and the misallocation of resources, time and energy.
It raises concerns about the prudent utilization of public resources and the potential for duplicated efforts.
In the absence of collaboration and awareness of each other initiatives there is a risk of redundancy and overlapping goals, which could indeed to demand a wasteful expenditure of valuable resources.
Therefore, it is imperative for those departments to engage in proactive communication and strategic planning to ensure a more efficient and synergistic approach to the projects, ultimately benefitting the city and its residents. Certainly, in Jammu there seem to be co-ordination, challenges, among various departments and projects including landscape projects, recreational, parks, parking facilities, sewerage systems, and electrical services.
This lack of coordination can lead to inefficiencies and difficulties in managing these essential aspects of urban development.
This unintentionally creates chaos rather than progress. There should be a well-structured development plan for the city with effective inter-departmental co-ordination to address the issue.
ISSUES: Several projects are delayed due to a lack of co-ordination among departments, each working independently in their development plans.
When discussing the development, a city, the first thing that comes to mind is services and infrastructure. Adding new elements to a city without addressing existing issues is counterproductive.
There is a lack of proper alignment of electric poles, and many of them are deteriorating, with cables hanging haphazardly.
Additionally, drainage system is blocked and damaged.
Is this truly city development? Without addressing these issues new developments are piece med and lack an overarching plan. Please ensure that the entire city development is carefully considered.
This issue can also be attributed to the lack of coordination between departments.
New services are introduced while the old ones remain untouched without proper demolition or consideration.
For instance, new streetlights are planned without taking into account existing ones. Each department undertakes projects without conducting surveys or understanding. The site’s conditions such negligence not only fails to develop our city but also wastes public funds and inadvertently leads to overall chaos.
For example: Without proper coordination the development of various projects resulting in a mismatched urban design.
Inadequate coordination between the sewerage and electricity department could lead to disruptions and safety concerns during infrastructure maintenance or repairs.
Parking facilities may not be strategically located or well-maintained if there visit effective communication between relevant departments.
To address these issues, its crucial for the concerned authorities and departments to work together cohesively, sharing information and resources and ensuring that these various aspects of city planning and development are synchronized to create a more functional and harmonious under environment for the residents of Jammu.
Importance:
Indeed, effective coordination among various departments is utmost times of disasters for emergencies. When a disaster strikes in Jammu, it is essential for all relevant departments to come together seamlessly too mitigate the impact and provide support to affected communities.
However, the lack of co-ordination in such critical situations can pose a significant challenge. Each department may operate independently, unaware of the actions or plans of others, which can lead to inefficiencies, duplication of efforts and delays in response efforts. This not only affects the effectiveness disaster management but also puts the safety and well beings of the city residents at risk.
To address this issue, there is a pressing need for improved communication, collaboration and a unified disaster management plan that involves all relevant departments. This plan should outline the roles and responsibilities of each department during emergencies establish clear lines of communication and facilitate the sharing of resources and information.
Training and regular drills can also help ensure that everyone is prepared and knows how to respond effectively when disaster. In essence fostering better co-ordination among departments is not only the well-being of the people of Jammu. It’s a crucial aspect of ensuring a resilient and disaster ready city.
Case Studies: Successful coordination efforts.
For example:
The response to the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan demonstrated effective co-ordination between various government agencies, local authorities and volunteer organizations.
Then collaborate efforts led to a more organized and efficient response, which helped mitigate the disaster impact and save lives. These case studies emphasize the critical role that coordination among departments plays in disaster management.
They save as valuable lessons cities worldwide in understanding the importance of preparedness, communication and collaboration to effectively respond to and recover from disaster.
IInd: The City of Surat in India is often cited as a success story in terms of disaster management and inter-departmental co-ordination. The Surat Municipal co-operation has been particularly effective in this regard. One key element of Surat’s success is the establishment of a governing body that overseas all city departments and their activities.
This Centralized approach ensures that there is a unified command structure during emergencies, allowing for quicker decision-making and resource allocation.
The governing body plays a crucial role in coordinating efforts and communication between different departments.
Additionally, Surat has developed a comprehensive disaster management program. This program includes proactive measures. Surat approach to disaster management is often held up as an example of how effective coordination among government agencies can lead to a more resilient and disaster ready city. It serves as a valuable mode for other cities looking to enhance their disaster response capabilities and protect the safety and wall being of their resident.
SOLUTIONS: Additionally, there should be a comprehensive development plan for Jammu to enhance the city and improve the quality of life.
The idea approach would involve establishing a governing body responsible for monitoring all projects across various departments to prevent chaos and save time.
Please rectify these practices.
The key duty of city departments to facilitate co-ordination and holistic city development includes.
- Collaboration: Department should actively collaborate and communicate with each other to align their goals and initiatives.
- Integrated Planning: Develop integrated city development plans that consider infrastructure, services and environmental factors comprehensively.
- Prioritization: Identify priority areas for development bases on the city’s needs and allocate resources accordingly.
- Regular Audits: Conduct regular assessments and audits of existing infrastructure and services to identify areas that need improvement of maintenance.
- Public Engagement: Involve the community in decision making processes to understand their needs and concerns better.
- Data Sharing: Share data and information between department to inform decision making and avoid duplication of efforts.
- Environmental considerations: Ensure that development plans incorporate sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuously monitor progress and evaluate the impact of development projects to make necessary adjustments.
- Transparency: Maintain transparency in decision-making and project implementation, keeping the public informed about development.
By adhering to these principles, City department can work together.
(The writer is Urban Designer
Mob. No. 9018196076).
