Established with an aim to augment urban landscape and act as an air soother during scorching heat waves, water fountains in several parks and public spaces in Jammu city have become an eyesore for public as almost all of them are lying non-operational.
Miserably failing to fulfil its core objective due to administrative bankruptcy of concerned department, these defunct water fountains now become a source of serious health hazards for general public.
For long, all water fountains in the city have been lying non- operational and thus posed a serious health hazard for residents due to stagnant water, which generally accumulated during rainy seasons and acted as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, says Rajeshwar Singh Jamwal, a well-known social and RTI activist.
Lamenting the fate of out-of-use water fountains located at Bakshi Nagar, CPO Chowk, Panjthirthi, Rajinder Park, Canal Road, Shahidi Sathal, GGM Science College, Shahdi Chowk, Green Belt Park, Gandhi Nagar, Zanana Park, Mubarak Mandi, and the Heritage Complex, Jamwal further said, “If the officers of concerned departments are unable to perform their assigned duty, then instead of bearing the burden on the state exchequer, the government must act against the non-performing officers and officials under the relevant clause of the Civil Services Rules.
Blaming the concerned departments for adopting a course of neglect towards periodic maintenance of fountains, a visitor to Nagrota Park, Amphalla said, “These defunct water fountains also raised serious question marks about those hired to design the blueprint of the city’s face-lift under the much-hyped Jammu Smart City project”.
The officers’ zeal was only visible at the time of purchase of instruments for installation of new water fountains, which sadly lost in oblivion during its maintenance, angrily said another person, a regular visitor to Rajinder Park, Canal road
Fixing clogged nozzles, repairing motor pumps, and replacing faulty lights of water fountains is not at all a herculean task. However, infrastructure worth several lakhs turned into junk due to failure of higher-ups in the concerned department to fix accountability among the errant employees.
Blaming the PWD officers for delay in repairing all water fountains that are lying defunct, Sunil Singh, Deputy Director, Department of Floriculture, told JK Global during a telephonic conversation, “Maintenance of water fountains rests with the PWD. On our part, we have completed all the necessary formalities, and now it’s the job of PWD to restore the defunct water fountains.”
However, reliable sources in the department reveals that lack of funds and involvement of multi agencies is the main villain behind the dilapidated condition of almost all water fountains in the city.