Residents of Palampur chose new municipal corporation, kept faith in congress in the hope that new municipal corporation will work aggressively to reform and restore collapsing civic order in the town. Newly elected corporators have their plate full with constituents expecting them to fulfill promises made during the hustle and bustle of campaigning. They owe responsibility to keep promises as good public representatives in true democratic spirit. However, town needs more than individual effort, a collective municipal “WILL’ to restore civic order to bring physical and mental sanity in the lives of harried citizens. It will not only help in establishing Palampur as model municipal governance model and improve environmental parameters.
What are major civic issues troubling commoners on daily basis making life difficult, cause environmental degradation escalating disaster probability, which state is experiencing on regular basis since 2023. Palampur and surrounding areas have been lucky on that count, have escaped natures wrath but if unplanned and unscientific development disrespecting mother earth continues, Palampur may not escape natures wrath for long. What are major issues and problems confronting Palampur which need aggressive attention of new municipal corporation.
A cursory look at construction activity within inner town and surrounding areas give an impression that all norms for building permission are flouted and stand ignored. Tall multistorey buildings are mushrooming in the town along khud banks and hills, causing irreparable damage to fragile hill strata. What looks unreasonable, illogical and illegal to commoners, is reasonable, logical and legal to municipal corporation engineering/town planning branch while approving architectural maps and granting permission ignoring environmental degradation escalating disaster certainty. What are the environmental consequences. Increased load on the hills which they may not withstand. Unscientific cutting render hill strata weak and fragile and may give in during heavy monsoons or even earth quake of mild density. Disasters biggest blow is loss of precious human lives is no one’s concern while approving building and infrastructure development plans. The earth waste caused by excavation is dumped in the khuds blocking natural water flow and may be cause of floods in case of heavy monsoons.
Traffic congestion is another major problem faced by citizens on every day basis and traffic management needs prioritized attention from new municipal corporation in coordination with police and administration. What it needs to do. It has to be multi-step process which is not possible without effective cooperation and coordination between corporation, subdivisional administration comprising civil administration and police. Firstly, make idle parking on roadsides, a major cause of traffic congestion by four wheelers and two wheelers a punishable offence. Declare idle parking a violation and challan violators. Auction roadsides, where parking space is available to manage traffic congestion. Implement one way traffic rule strictly for four wheelers and two wheelers. It has almost lost its sanctity in Palampur since there is no penalty for violators. Instill sense of responsibility among police personnel deployed at traffic bottlenecks to manage traffic which generally seems to be lacking. Expedite construction of existing parking’s. Unless a coordinated action is taken to ease traffic woes, traffic congestion will choke Palampur’s lungs. Speed management within town too needs attention of police authorities. Another aspect is motivating citizens to walk instead of ride and create spaces for safe walking to encourage citizens to walk will help ease traffic congestion and improve health profile.
Connected with traffic management is stray animal menace. All along Dharamshala-Palampur main road starting from Chimbalhar till Agriculture university and within town, arterial roads and even streets are cluttered with stray animals. These animals not only cause traffic snarls, pose grave threat to pedestrians especially elderly and children. Despite being most visible threat, nothing has been done to control it. These stray animals have attacked citizens and also caused deaths. It needs immediate resolution.
Garbage management is another aspect which need prioritized attention. Though door to door garbage collection is regular and consistent, the idle littering along roadsides, hill slopes have dealt big blow to beauty and serenity of Palampur. If one walks along arterial roads, they are choked with plastic and package waste like plastic bottles, soft drink bottles, plastic paper plates, junk food packages, sanitary waste and so on. The jungles lanes are littered with liquor, soda bottles and food package waste. The khud streams are too littered with pooja waste and so on. Though NGOs strive to manage garbage, it needs major civic initiative from corporation in the form of “SHARAMDAAN” involving schools, colleges, hotels, marriage halls, villages and housing societies. Unless citizens are sensitized and it is made a movement, Palampur may be staring at major garbage mess, making town look highly disordered and untidy, destroying serenity of this beautiful hill station.
There is immediate and urgent need that new municipal corporation starts on positive note assuring citizens that it means business. It has to work in mission mode on two fronts, at individual corporators level and at collective level. At individual level to look after civic problems of their wards and resolve them and at collective level to resolve problems faced by citizens, moment they step out of their homes for routine work in the form of traffic congestion, garbage littering and haphazard construction as eyesore, also causing environmental degradation inviting disasters, concerns for safety from stray animals and so on.
There is need for new municipal corporation, local administration, police and NGO, s to work together in cooperation and coordination with each other to resolve issues and problems faced by citizens collectively on daily basis. Corporators must be approachable to all in their offices and in field also on daily basis. Citizens are major stakeholders in clean, green and serene Palampur. Unless major stakeholders are taken on board and involved in resolution and management of civic mess, improvement in civic environment may remain a dream. It is now for new Municipal Corporation to start a fresh era of making Palampur as best town of not only Kangra but Himachal Pradesh. It is achievable, only political and administrative “WILL” is required. Needed is new beginning from new municipal administration for making Palampur, an oasis of civic order instead of digging old skeletons.
Rattan Chand Sharma retired from the Border Security Force as a Commandant. A regular contributor to publications like Outlook, Deccan Herald, India Sentinels, Force Magazine, Chanakya Forum, Saveratimes, Seema Sanghosh, he writes mainly about defence and security personnel issues.
