More is need for public services to behave & deliver smartly than is need to make a city physically look Smart

To make a city Look Smart it is Smart Public Servant that matters more than the Financial inputs
Unchecked Prohibited Dazzling lights on Vehicles can result in Slow vehicular Traffic & Accidents
“Dazzling or Blinding” lights should be removed also by RTO even after passing / registration of vehicles

DAYA SAGAR

To make cities “smart” no doubt the need also to make them physically look smart but more is the need to make the agencies / public services behave & deliver smartly. To make cities behave and look look Smart it is not only the money but truthful governance & delivery of utilities and services by the human resources deployed that matters more.
In a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir High Court comprising Justice Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur had on 19th December 2019 observed that many directions, passed by the court as regards managing the vehicular traffic / regulating the vehicles in the cities had not been complied like parking public & private vehicles , amending the existing norms with respect to registration of vehicles that the owner of the vehicle seeking registration has a parking space/ garage space at his residence, banning the use of city roads for overnight parking purposes and like. No doubt Jammu city has disproportionately high population of vehicles and limited road space to accommodate the traffic but first all efforts have to be made to use the available space, man power and facilities as best as possible and only then one would reason the jams / traffic disorders in lack of men & materials. But position is more of mismanagement and less of available resources.
Both Jammu and Srinagar cities receive a very large number of tourists ( Jammu city receives much more than Srinagar) so delivery of public services in a SMART way is more important for these cities. It is good that the Jammu City walls are being painted/ decorated ( it is hoped that they will be maintained also on yearly basis) but imagine what “smartness” must be reflecting to a visitors / tourists when he/ she finds no three wheeler taxi to report with metered fare charge. Ofcourse there is no metered taxi cab service in the city and had that been there may many locals would not use private vehicles/ cars for short distances which would take off from city roads atleast 25 to 30 percent local traffic. People have been complaining that they do not receive support from traffic police when three wheeler taxi does not run on meter and hence they do not complain.
Undisciplined hands on the wheels , those using mobiles while driving even two wheelers and those using banned lights ( dazzling / blinding light during night ) need be subjected to regular checks instead of occasionally by putting Nakas to avoid accidents on roads and for smooth flow of traffic, but that feature of “smartness” is regretfully lacking even this day of e governance. There are not many traffic signal lights in the City of Jammu but even these are often found irregularly functioning even when they can surely add to “Smartness” of Jammu city without any additional financial implications.
Others features that are related to delivery of services with the employed men & materials and are in 2024 raising questions on the “Jammu Smart CITY” ‘banners’ around are
Others features that are related to delivery of services with the employed men & materials and are in 2024 raising questions on the “Jammu Smart CITY” ‘banners’ around are the unknown vehicles regularly parked by outsiders in other localities even during night which can cause serious law & order problem or may provide shelter to some criminal plans ( night parking on the roads on both sides like one would find in exchange road / in the inner by lanes of old city / Rehari by outsiders. People finding unknown vehicles parked in their lanes bearing registration numbers of other districts or registration numbers not familiar to them. There have been disputes also in some areas and some respectable citizens had to make compromises. Local police officers must ensure that no vehicle is parked during the nights in ‘foreign’ areas.) , the staff at the paid public parking lots does not bear any identity badges nor is there notified /nominated managerial staff for attending the quarries and complains of overcharging ( particulars of the official agency owning the parking lot and the contractor managing site not prominently displayed), no dedicated local taxi service in Jammu city that in 2024 is receiving nearly a crore of visitors, fast conversion of even inner residential colonies into commercial areas and vehicles parked creating traffic blocks & even scuffles between residents / commuters.
No doubt Sr. officers have been found at occasions requesting and advising their junior colleagues for taking up the services seriously but not much improvement could be seen on ground. Officers like DG Police , Divisional Commissioner, IG Traffic, Director weights& measures and Commissioner Transport cannot move from lane to lane/ office to office and hence may not be aware of all the menace on ground. It could be said that the common people / public too cannot be absolved of the social responsibility of cooperating with the government / administration. So, in greater common cause the people can also become the “ears and eyes” of administration / government / Vehicle Smart City and can inform about the defaulters who come in their notice. In case someone, in view of the “environment” that prevails this day, feels scared of naming the defaulters still without disclosing identity the information / suggestion could be conveyed by post ( it will cost just Rs.5) which would surely help them to apply corrections more effectively.
(The author is Sr Journalist and social activist).