By sacrificing pedestrian safety for illegal commerce, the JMC has turned Jammu Smart City into a mockery of governance. As the sun sets, the city’s footpaths are surrendered to a lawless sprawl that runs rampant across every major intersection. This total surrender of public space forces every citizen to wonder: Who really runs Jammu—the administration or the Rehri mafia ?
Jammu’s much-publicized “Smart City” dream is steadily being suffocated on the ground. Public spaces meant for pedestrians and commuters are shrinking at an alarming speed due to mushrooming sprawl of illegal fixed kiosks, dhabas, patronized street vendor stalls and open-air car bazaars. This burgeoning issue has been further complicated by a cobweb of illegal hoardings and banners, haphazardly erected without approval, which conveniently turn civic assets into private billboards. These illegal occupations have increasingly become a regular law-and-order headache, besides contributing significantly to health and sanitation problem.
Amidst shrinking public space, Jammu Municipal Corporation’s anti-encroachment drive has increasingly come under fire for its selective and skewed execution. Questioning choking of roads and footpaths by permanent kiosks at several vantage locations in JMC jurisdiction which are conspicuously spared, enraged citizens opined that while JMC’s anti encroachment squad descend swiftly on marginals struggling for daily survival, influential road encroachers continue to enjoy virtual permanent immunity .
Social activist Rajeshwar Singh Jamwal has dismissed the JMC’s anti-encroachment drive as a “damp squib” lacking both direction and determination. He pointed out that in prime Gole Market , a double-deck iron restaurant is being built on an encroached road right under the administration’s nose. Furthermore, an open-car bazaar continues to occupy an entire footpath near VLCC in Gandhi Nagar, despite the walkway being recently constructed with public funds under Jammu Smart City (JSCL) project. Magnitude of problem is gigantic and time bound campaign not sufficient to contain the menace. Instead, the authorities need to conduct anti encroachment drive on regular basis, he suggest.
Highlighting the perceived hollowness of the anti-encroachment drives frequently launched by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and district administration, local resident Rajinder Singh criticized officials for their selective oversight. “Why are authorities blind to Bittu’s Fish Corner operating on the footpath of the posh Residency Road with a massive wok of boiling oil in the open?” he asked. Singh also pointed to fruit vendors at Parade Ground outside Rani Park, whose encroachment of the entire sidewalk forces pedestrians into the street. “How can the administration allow kiosks at the crowded Shahedi Chowk to operate with life-threatening pots of boiling oil on the roadside? This is not mere laxity; it is a governance failure,” he added.
Terming these patronized encroachments as visual pollution that is fast turning Jammu city into a maze of chaos and posing serious risks to public safety, traffic flow and the city’s aesthetic character, aggrieved residents asserted that it is a mockery to crown a city with the “Smart” title when public spaces—footpaths and roads—are being used as private property for business activities. The problem on account of rehris and kioaks operating along further assumed an
Referring to the mushrooming of dhabas, juice corners, rehris and car bazaars along encroached footpaths, nallahs and roads in the posh Gandhi Nagar area as a blot on the Smart City tag, Dr. Vishal Sharma, a resident of Green Belt Park, Gandhi Nagar, said, “The entire stretch of road in this posh locality—from the J&K Housing Board office up to the JMC ward office—has been turned into an urban jungle.” The lawlessness prevailing on this stretch during peak hours, he added, raises serious questions about the functioning of the police, the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), and the district administration
Pointing towards the sudden mushrooming of dhabas on the nallah behind Gandhi Nagar Hospital and opposite Vermani Store, along with the unchecked operation of fruit vendors on this stretch of road, a retired IAS officer, preferring anonymity, told JK Global News, “These blatant encroachments have turned the area into a traffic nightmare and are posing grave health and sanitation hazards. It is shocking how dhaba owners are openly burning tandoors on the roadside in brazen violation of the Municipal Act, right under the nose of the authorities.” Such illegalities cannot continue indefinitely unless those entrusted with enforcing the law deliberately lower their guard and choose to compromise, he added.
Interestingly, under the Smart City banner, crores are being spent on beautification, smart poles, LED lights and fancy signage, while the most basic element of urban planning—unobstructed public space—is being steadily eroded. Roads widened at public expense are swiftly reclaimed by encroachers, rendering infrastructure upgrades meaningless. Pedestrians, senior citizens, children and the differently-abled are the worst sufferers, left with no safe walking space.
JK Global News Take: Asserting authority over the weak is a “walk in the park,” but dismantling a well-entrenched mafia requires true courage and determination. An anti-encroachment campaign that targets the vulnerable while shielding the influential is no longer a civic reform; it becomes a symbol of institutional bias and administrative cowardice. Unless the district administration, JMC, and police collectively undertake a sustained, transparent, and non-discriminatory campaign—supported by designated vending zones and strict penalties—Jammu risks losing its public spaces forever. Top officials in Urban Development must stop buckling under the pressure of crooked politicians some of whom claimed themselves as dons of city’s old bazars and dare to say “No means No“. They must decide now: will they serve the citizens, or will they surrender the city’s future to a lawless “rehri mafia” and watch Jammu descend into urban nightmare?