Jawalamukhi – Unfortunately, almost all roads in this temple town are in a pathetic condition, littered with garbage and construction material besides activities like manufacturing of furniture on roadsides adding to the nuisance. Not only does the vehicular traffic face frequent jams, but also the ravaged roads pose a death trap for the citizens.
Unscheduled and unchecked parking leading to blockades, restricting free movement is a common sight here. There have been many cases of senior citizens and women being injured or losing their lives in road accidents, but the police and other concerned authorities still have not woken upto the situation.
Couple to this the nuisance is the stray animals, who roam the streets fearlessly in absence of any check by the Nagar Panchayat. There have been numerous cases where pedestrians have been attacked by stray animals and got injured seriously. Though the authorities have laid down certain rules to manage the rogue traffic, but the decision remain just on papers. For example, while the entry of vehicles in the mandir road and the main market is restricted during the day and locks have been placed at many entries for the purpose, but still some vehicles managed to enter through streets where there are no restrictions. Also, the markets here are subjected to a lot of brash and reckless driving, which often leads to fatal accidents but the traffic police is no bothered to check the same.
When contacted SDM Dehra, she said that she would direct the secretary Nagar Panchyat Jwalamukhi to take cognizance of the situation and take steps accordingly.
She said that some petty traders had encroached on the roads and set up illegal units for manufactring furniture and were challanged, but the act did not serve to be a deterrent, as the maximum fine is of Rs. 50, which they can pay easily and then resume their work. She said the only other alternative was to forcibly evict them by throwing-off their goods, but for this police assistance is required which is not available every time, she added.
