No regularization reaps no benefits

JAIPUR: As campaigning gains momentum in the city, market places and residential colonies of all 10 wards of Adarsh Nagar assembly constituency wear a colourful look while contesting candidates feel the heat. Residents are throwing a volley of questions at them regarding sanitation, unabated construction and encroachments, the answers to which neither sitting councillors nor new candidates have.
Besides a blend of migrant business communities like Sindhis and Punjabis residing here, Adarsh Nagar also covers slums of Jhalana and Ghat gate areas. Apart from regular issues like water scarcity, parking, lease deeds and drainage, the area is plagued with encroachment of public land.
“Some slums were regularized by the government but most of them were not. The water we get is dirty and we have to walk out of our colony to get a bucket of clean drinking water. We have also not received our ration cards, which makes it difficult for us to get benefits of government schemes,” said Hukumchand Bairwa, resident of ward 65.
Same demands are being made by the slum dwellers of Jhalana. “We have been demanding that our areas should be regularised but the government is doing nothing. JMC is also not making any effort in this direction,” claimed Vinay Kumar from Jhalana.
However, choked sewer lines and pot holed roads have been major concerns for residents. They have been demanding widening of old sewerage lines and laying down newer ones along the missing links of the sewerage lines.
“Sewerage is the biggest problem here. Most of the time dirty water overflows on roads, causing health issues,” said Sakeen Bano, resident of ward 63. She added, “I raised this issue with our sitting councillor, who is running for these , and he said it will be solved this time.”
Ashok Parnami, incumbent MLA from Adarsh Nagar, is an ex-mayor of JMC. Residents extol his performance as mayor but claimed that it was not carry forwarded leaving lot of work in lurch.
Apart from this, commercial activities in residential areas have also caused major problems in most of the wards. Residents don’t get parking space as it is occupied by people who visit the market.
“A restaurant runs nearby my home and I have requested them so many times to not allow vehicles to park in front of my gate. But nobody listens,” said Om Nath Mishra, resident of ward 69.