POONAM MAHAJAN
JAMMU: Every year Jammu Municipal Corporation spends lakhs of rupees to prepare in advance for the monsoon season. The money is largely spent on clearing drains, Nallahs and strengthening of Nallahs in order to prevent over-flooding of water inside houses of local residents in the low lying areas.
But despite spending hefty sums of money JMC authorities are caught napping every year as local residents continue to struggle to deal with the same issue of water logging and over-flooding in their areas.
Secondly, JMC authorities ignore maintenance of manholes and leave them without any cover, inviting trouble for commuters and two wheeler owners. Generally, it is these people who fall prey to negligent behaviour of the ground workers who submit false reports of having completed all required works to ensure safety of local residents during rainy season.
This season the situation is no different here in the City of Temples.
More than one dozen dangerous manholes can be spotted easily in and around main city roads which witness peak traffic and often lead to accidents.
But so far JMC authorities have not woken up from their deep slumber to repair the same or cover them up to prevent more accidents.
A random survey conducted by the STATE TIMES exposed all the tall claims made by the JMC before completing pre monsoon preparations.
Starting from old city area to residential colonies spread across the length and breadth of the city, manholes can be spotted everywhere.
To name a few a big manhole outside the main gate of the Polytechnic College near Bikram Chowk not only pose a risk to the lives of commuters it also exposes the negligent behaviour of the JMC authorities as they have not bothered to cover up the same in the busy area.
The manhole at Dogra Chowk is giving sleepless nights to JMC authorities for many years and despite carrying out repair work and laying fresh network of sewerage pipes the problem of water logging could not be resolved.
Several lanes and streets of Nanak Nagar, Preet Nagar, Gangyal, Digiana,Trikuta Nagar, Talab Tillo, Krishna Nagar, Canal Road , Science College, are facing this problem where manholes have been lying open inviting trouble for commuters during rainy season. Even BC Road, which is considered busiest road in Jammu, is facing the issue of open manholes but JMC authorities are not paying attention to ensure safety of commuters.
