Jammu, August 10: The unending wait of Jammuites to see their badly damaged roads repaired does not seem to be ending anytime in near future even as there are some indications what is in store for them after the long wait.
While majority of roads are telling a tale of additional discrimination and apathy after the PDP-BJP coalition took over with Jammuites wondering whether they have voted rightly or not.
Meanwhile the new dispensation has asked us to wait for some more time as it is their endeavor to get the 800km of roads macadamized in a professional manner so that the contractors are made accountable and roads are maintained properly.
However as they say coming events cast their shadows before and so are the indications about the new road plan of the new dispensation if the small repair work that has been carried out is taken into account.
The macadamization of the streets that has been initiated some days ago is a clear indication of the loot and plunder of the contactors going on despite the new government painting a rosy picture in front of the masses.
The Earth News team went round a few places where the macadamization has taken place and found that it was all hoax and were reminded of the 2010 Akshay Kumar starrer “Khatta Meetha” which revolves around the dubious road contractors who use just sand and dust to repair the roads only to find them washed away on the first day of the rain.
The round around the city revealed that same thing is going on in the repairs of the city streets which were waiting to get repaired for years together only to see the potholes filled by sand and dust by the contractors who have not changed their ways despite the new government claiming to give us a corruption free government.
The photographs above reveal the pathetic condition of Jawahar Nagar street in Talab Tillo area which was repaired just a few days before showing how a thin layer of coal tar has been used to macadamize the street which has been washed away just after a single rain threatening to take the condition of the street back to what it was just a few days ago while the contractors seem to have made the hay while the sun of the new government shines over them.
It is the duty of the new legislators to oversee such lapses and restrain themselves from falling into the trap of the greedy contractors by offering something new to the people who have voted them en-mass this time to find some change and respite from the miserable conditions they have been living for the past so many years.
However going by the recent episodes of the governance it hardly seems that anything has changed even as legislators may not be in league but since they are at the helm they are to be blamed.
It is time that the new government particularly BJP reads the writing on the wall and comes into action by supervising the public works and ensuring that the old contractual system does not continue which would openly harms the prospectus of the new government as Jammuites are already fed up by the potholed city which offers no respite even as considerable time has elapsed.
One can only hope that such loot is nipped in the bud before it converts into the anger and frustration of the people which has already been aroused by the opposition to reap political dividends in Jammu.