No major developmental activities taken up by the administration to address public concern; No action on defunct municipality

No major developmental activities taken up by the administration to address public concern; No action on defunct municipality

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: After showing a good performance in assembly elections, the tempo of the district administration seems to have slowed as nothing concrete is visible on the ground in addressing the genuine issues of the public, although only routine works are going on.

Before the visit of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to Poonch, the district administration, led from the front by DC Poonch, visited various areas of the city to see encroachments in various areas, digging of streets, potholes, and other issues. DC Poonch, on the spot, issued instructions to the concerned officials from different departments, including the Poonch municipality, to address all the burning issues, but after that nothing concrete was done on the ground. No action was taken on the encroachments at different places in the city. Near the college, a big pothole was seen by DC Poonch during his visit, but no action was taken by the municipality to repair the same to avoid any accidents to pedestrians. Poonch municipality has become a defunct institution where the concerned officials are involved in hand-in-glove acts with a large number of encroachers, but the district administration has maintained a questionable silence on the executive officer of Poonch municipality. Poonch and Surankote municipalities have become a hub of corruption as the concerned officials looted government money under various schemes, but it’s shocking that no action has yet been taken by the administration against the tainted officials. Moreover, illegal parking at different places has become another major area of concern from which the common man is suffering. A few days ago, a meeting of the District Road Safety Committee took place under the chairmanship of DC Poonch to discuss comprehensive road safety measures with the main aim of reducing traffic accidents and enhancing public safety on roads, but on the ground, no concrete action was seen, and it shows that the meeting was only a formality. The public is facing huge inconvenience due to illegal parking and encroachment of market space. The issue of circular roads remained in the news for years, but no efforts were made by the administration to address the issue to ease traffic flow in the city. Earlier, there were reports about the construction of a circular road from the protection bundh near S.K. Bridge to Betar Nallah, but the former IAS Deputy Commissioner, reasons best known to him, threw taxpayers money into the river and ordered the construction of a park over the protection bundh, which can be collapsed anytime during heavy floods like September 2014, if it comes in the future. Now the people of Poonch are in a dilemma as they say that the same bundh was earlier projected for a circular road, but now a park was constructed there. Was the construction of the park by the administration an attempt to legalize all the illegal constructions in the “Red Zone”? No action was taken on the repair of the historic Nangali Sahib Bridge as a portion of the bridge was damaged during the 2014 floods. The city is facing a power and water shortage, but the district administration is always seen busy issuing press releases to show its physical and financial achievements, which are debatable. A total of sixteen important press releases of the administration are lying with “POONCH TODAY,” in which the administration had shown a positive approach related to various issues, but if an analysis is carried out of all the press releases, nothing concrete was done after the issuance of those press releases. What was claimed to be done by the administration in most of the press releases is not visible on the ground, and it shows that the administration was just locking the barn door after the horse was stolen to delude one and all. People are expressing their serious concerns over irregular power and water supplies, but the administration was seen nowhere in  addressing the genuine issues of the common man. Due to the lack of visionary brains in the administration, nothing concrete from a major developmental point of view has come into the public domain in the interest of the public. The chopper service, which was started a few days back, was also a brainchild of Mohd Ajaz Asad, a local IAS officer hailing from Poonch, but not a brainchild of the district administration. On reported matters of inefficiencies in various departments, the administration is always seen protecting the tainted officers, and it shows that the agenda of the administration is not based on visionary initiatives for the future but on doing routine activities by projecting those activities as a big one. The common man is suffering from a lot of issues, but the administration has not shown its ground presence to address the same. In addressing the common issues of encroachment, illegal parking, power failure, water supply and similar issues, the administration has not done anything properly. An impression was generated in the town that the administration seems to be active only in press releases and not on the ground. The only good achievement of this administration led by DC Poonch was seen during the conduct of assembly elections, having massive voter participation. Other than that, nothing concrete was done on the ground as far as addressing most genuine public issues is concerned.