3 min readChandigarhOct 1, 2015 04:08 AM IST
First published on: Oct 1, 2015 at 04:08 AM IST
Uncovered nullahs, roadside encroachments, non-functional street lights, ill-equipped dispensaries and inadequate government schools in their respective areas — these were some of the key problems and complaints which residents of the city’s periphery highlighted at the eighth smart city consultation-cum-redressal camp held on Wednesday.
As the residents of the non-sectoral villages of the city attended the camp, most of them had a common complaint: the Municipal Corporation and UT Administration do not pay any heed to the villages on the outskirts of the city, especially its cleanliness, which is why the periphery areas remain ill-maintained and do not seem to be part of the city.
One of the residents said, “We appreciate the fact that the UT Administration has invited us all to share our problems but then they need to actually start from the grassroots level because there are many problems. We do not have dispensaries, good schools, playgrounds, milk dairies, proper markets, good chemist shops etc. It’s more than 25 years that I have been living in Adarash Nagar with my family but nothing has ever changed.”
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Another resident from Gobindpura said, “There are a lot of children who are six-year-old and above in our area and they are eligible to go to school but there is no good school here. The government school here is Hindi-medium and it has a very poor and old infrastructure. We wish to send our children to English-medium schools. Administration needs to pay attention to this.”
The camp was held at the Community Centre, Modern Housing Complex, Manimajra, for the residents of Old Manimajra, NAC; Shanti Nagar; Mari wala town; Thakur Dwara; Housing Board I and II; Mohalla Govindpura; Dhillon Complex; Motor Market; Pocket no. 8; Darshani Bagh; Subhash Nagar; Adarsh Nagar; Pipli wala town; Gawala Colony; Indiaira Colony; and IT park. Area councillors Gurcharan Dass Kala and Des Raj Gupta were present on the occasion.
Danish Ashraf, nodal officer for smart city mission and SDM (East), said, “People are coming up with complaints, problems, suggestions and ideas but till now, we have not received any idea from Residents’ Welfare Associations. None of them has told us that they are also ready to work; instead they make us responsible for every little thing.”
He shared an idea given by the residents about the automatic street light control
system or dark sensor, which needs no manual operation for switching on or off. When there is no need for light, it is switched off and when the darkness increases, it is switched on. Other ideas suggested at the camp included women safety in the periphery areas, proper playgrounds, more number of e-sampark centres and mechanised sweeping, especially for the unorganised sectors.
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