By Kartikeya Semwal
There are a lot of problems faced by people of Dehradun that go unnoticed due to disinterest of corporators and officials of PWD and Nagar Nigam. Despite being declared the temporary capital of Uttarakhand, the city of Dehradun is in a pitiable situation with broken roads, open manholes, traffic congestion, garbage dumping, lack of sewage lines, improper law and order situation, etc.
People of Dehradun are suffering from all the above problems and are well aware of them, but since they are not united to fight for these causes due to which their corporators and various departments like water works, public works department (PWD), Nagar Nigam and police administration seem to be working with laxity and negligence. I recently read in newspapers that Nagar Nigam has only 2 dumper trucks, both of which have gone defunct at the start of festive season. Nager Nigam officials should answer as to why Nagar Nigam has only 2 dumper trucks despite knowing that the population of the city has been increasing with every passing year and so is the garbage. Why did Nagar Nigam not purchase new and more efficient dumper trucks? Why it has only 215 employees instead of the sanctioned number of 680? Why is Nagar Nigam not trying to recycle the biodegradable garbage? There are so many questions that Nagar Nigam officials need to answer but they don’t since no one questions them.
Then comes the PWD that is responsible for covering manholes, building new roads and maintaining the old ones but it does so with great slackness. Leave alone building of new roads, PWD has even failed to maintain the older ones. Besides there are many places where manholes are open and have become a life threat to regular commuters and have been at times cause of accidents. Roads at Jakhan, Kailidas and Cant region, Saharanpur chowk, Darshanlal chowk, Doiwala, etc are all broken and need immediate repairs. But they would be repaired only if PWD shows interest in them.
Then there is the water works department also known as Jal Sansthan, responsible to provide drinking water to Dehradun but this summer we saw how it struggle to maintain water-supply to the whole city. At many places across the city there are no water lines, while the existing old ones are broken at places where water gets mixed up with sewer resulting in diseases. Those old water supply lines ought to be replaced by new ones while new water supply lines ought to be built at places where there are none. Water works department ought to conserve as much water as it can during monsoons for which it should built huge facilities across the city in coordination with state government, to collect water so there is no shortage of water during summers. Officials of water works should also install water purifiers and water treatment plants at various places to clean hard water carrying impurities. But they don’t feel the need to do so as people don’t question them and their functioning methods. Last but not the least comes the police department or the Uttarakhand police. God knows what the job of police is and what Uttarakhand police is doing? Uttarakhand police has become famous for all the wrong reasons either it was the case of Ranveer fake encounter or Anshu Nautiyal murder case or the Kaladhungi incident. Uttarakhand police personnels being thrashed by locals has become so common these days that clearly shows that people are not afraid of police. Crime is on the rise in Uttarakhand, especially in Dehradun as police takes too much time to react. This has boosted the spirits of criminals. Had Uttarakhand police switched to strict policing, the story would have been completely different and there would have been terror among criminals. But it’s not so as everyone can see and the law and order situation is worsening in the city. All these problems shall be addressed well only if the concerned departments show their interest in them and are well supported by the residents of Dehradun.
People of Dehradun are suffering from all the above problems and are well aware of them, but since they are not united to fight for these causes due to which their corporators and various departments like water works, public works department (PWD), Nagar Nigam and police administration seem to be working with laxity and negligence. I recently read in newspapers that Nagar Nigam has only 2 dumper trucks, both of which have gone defunct at the start of festive season. Nager Nigam officials should answer as to why Nagar Nigam has only 2 dumper trucks despite knowing that the population of the city has been increasing with every passing year and so is the garbage. Why did Nagar Nigam not purchase new and more efficient dumper trucks? Why it has only 215 employees instead of the sanctioned number of 680? Why is Nagar Nigam not trying to recycle the biodegradable garbage? There are so many questions that Nagar Nigam officials need to answer but they don’t since no one questions them.
Then comes the PWD that is responsible for covering manholes, building new roads and maintaining the old ones but it does so with great slackness. Leave alone building of new roads, PWD has even failed to maintain the older ones. Besides there are many places where manholes are open and have become a life threat to regular commuters and have been at times cause of accidents. Roads at Jakhan, Kailidas and Cant region, Saharanpur chowk, Darshanlal chowk, Doiwala, etc are all broken and need immediate repairs. But they would be repaired only if PWD shows interest in them.
Then there is the water works department also known as Jal Sansthan, responsible to provide drinking water to Dehradun but this summer we saw how it struggle to maintain water-supply to the whole city. At many places across the city there are no water lines, while the existing old ones are broken at places where water gets mixed up with sewer resulting in diseases. Those old water supply lines ought to be replaced by new ones while new water supply lines ought to be built at places where there are none. Water works department ought to conserve as much water as it can during monsoons for which it should built huge facilities across the city in coordination with state government, to collect water so there is no shortage of water during summers. Officials of water works should also install water purifiers and water treatment plants at various places to clean hard water carrying impurities. But they don’t feel the need to do so as people don’t question them and their functioning methods. Last but not the least comes the police department or the Uttarakhand police. God knows what the job of police is and what Uttarakhand police is doing? Uttarakhand police has become famous for all the wrong reasons either it was the case of Ranveer fake encounter or Anshu Nautiyal murder case or the Kaladhungi incident. Uttarakhand police personnels being thrashed by locals has become so common these days that clearly shows that people are not afraid of police. Crime is on the rise in Uttarakhand, especially in Dehradun as police takes too much time to react. This has boosted the spirits of criminals. Had Uttarakhand police switched to strict policing, the story would have been completely different and there would have been terror among criminals. But it’s not so as everyone can see and the law and order situation is worsening in the city. All these problems shall be addressed well only if the concerned departments show their interest in them and are well supported by the residents of Dehradun.
No comments:
Post a Comment