No action from the Poonch administration yet on the encroachment of market space; Will DC prove himself by addressing major issues?
POONCH TODAY NEWS
POONCH: The issue of illegal encroachments on market space and illegal constructions of Khokhas at various places has remained a highly debatable topic for years, but the district administration and Poonch municipality have yet to address the issue.
At various places, some shopkeepers were seen occupying market space to a more significant extent, but despite having full information, the Poonch municipality and the administration never took action against the defaulters. Nearly three years ago, an attempt was made by the Poonch municipality to take action against illegal Khokhas near Poonch fort, but due to the involvement of some tainted police officers, who were reportedly adjusted behind the curtains, the said drive launched by the municipality failed and the encroachers had the upper hand. After that, no concrete effort was made by the Poonch municipality, and as a result, people were forced to suffer heavily due to the encroachment of market space and the illegal construction of Khokhas at various places in the city. A few occasional drives were carried out against encroachments but those ill-planned drives failed to generate a positive result. For four years, those sitting in Poonch municipality were never seen building a big project for Poonch town but were seen only giving political statements in the air to hoodwink the masses on one pretext or another related to the shortage of funds. Although some developmental projects were taken in hand their numbers remained very low. On the other hand, Poonch city has no properly elected Beopar Mandal, as many self-styled Beopar Mandal presidents are roaming here and there for their personal interests. In every street, one will find a Beopar Mandal president, but the district administration, due to its age-old time-pass policy, never took this thing into account. The entire system of the Poonch municipality remained in peril for years, and as a result, the common man was forced to suffer heavily due to the visionless policies of the administration. A few days ago, DC Poonch was seen visiting various places in Poonch City, accompanied by municipality officials and self-styled Beopar Mandal bodies, to see the things on the ground. Now the question arises will the new DC be able to get proper feedback regarding burning issues on the ground, or will he also sail in the same boat by adopting the time pass policy only started by a few of his predecessors? Due to the lack of proper planning from Poonch municipality and the existence of a number of self-styled Beopar Mandal bodies, it’s the common man of Poonch who is suffering a lot due to encroachment of market space and related issues, traffic congestion, noise pollution from loudspeakers and big music instruments, illegal constructions of Khokhas at various places, and similarly other issues of public convenience. Those who have their personal interests at heart are seen forming Beopar Mandals at various places, least concerned about the concerns of the common man. The absence of a properly elected Beopar Mandal, lack of proper planning on behalf of Poonch municipality, and poor administration concern towards the masses are the major reasons that all the genuine issues were never addressed on priority. It’s high time for the new Deputy Commissioner to address all these issues in the public interest in addition to addressing all developmental issues rather than finding his name on the list of those DCs who did nothing concrete on the ground.