Pathankot awaits fresh solutions from new Deputy Commissioner

The best way to solve a problem is to solve it. This adage will have to be kept in mind by the city’s new Deputy Commissioner Ms Pallavi. Only then can this once scenic township be brought back to the glory of the yore.

The first and foremost dilemma the new incumbent will face pertains to the city’s perennial traffic problem. None of her predecessors had the resolve, or the willpower, to ask commercial establishments and shops to use their basements for parking purposes. What these people do is that they get the necessary documents, and maps, passed from the municipal corporation (MC) showing they will use their basements for parking. However, they rarely adhere to the norms thus congesting the city with a traffic chaos. This is a city of small and big traders and any move by her will be met with resistance by the money-bags. They also have the backing of regional political satraps.

Pallavi has also been assigned the charge of Commissioner of the MC. This body is incidentally ruled by the Congress. She will have to walk like a trapeze artist. The officer will have to listen to her AAP bosses in Chandigarh and simultaneously she will also have to lend an ear to the Congress Mayor Panna Lal Bhatia and his coterie of Congress councillors. She will have to be politically correct for every move she makes.

The roads are narrow which are acting as a major catalyst in the traffic quandary. Unlike other cities, the scope of expansion in this city is limited as it is hemmed in from all sides by defence establishments. Residents say she will have to start as soon as it is possible for her if she has to leave her stamp of authority in the city. Any more delay in solving the problems residents are facing will only queer the pitch for her.

Luckily, she will have to listen to just one MLA who is also a Cabinet Minister. The other two MLAs are from the BJP and the Congress.

The crusher industry, once considered to be the numero uno of all industries in the area, is on its knees. There are hundreds of businessmen who have invested heavily in this business. Crusher owners are already making preparations to meet and apprise her of their problems. Pathankot is a mining rich city and money flows like water does in the rivers Ravi and Ujh. She will have to be careful in dealing with the dons of the mining industry. A lot of politicians have a stake in the mining pie. Pallavi will have to meet everyone in the mining business in the eye if she has to formulate the government’s policies. Because such policies are often met with disdain and contempt. And it is the bureaucrat’s job to make sure the government’s rules and regulations are implemented in letter and spirit.

It is high time somebody solve the tricky Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge predicament. 90 percent of the town’s traffic snarls will vanish into thin air if somebody like the DC convinces the central government to elevate the 3.6km stretch of track running through the MC limits. She can ask the railways to bring the elevated model of Rohtak to the city. This has been a long-standing issue. There are seven railway crossings which close simultaneously when the toy-train, a euphemism given by old-timers for the Pathankot-Jogindernagar train, passes. These ‘fataks’ shut down at least half a dozen times in a day with the result that traffic comes to a halt. The city’s remains divided into two parts for long periods of time. This is one big reason why the once booming economy of the town is in the doldrums. However, once work on the bridge starts, the train too will start. And residents fear the day when this happens because once again their city will come to a halt because of the rail crossings. Change is the essence of growth. The city will grow if somebody brings a change. The onus is on the new officer in-charge of the district.

Last but not the least, old timers say the time has come for the MC to have a transparent look. Like in other civic bodies, the MC building branch will be the new officer’s first port of call. She has already remained DC of Malerkotla with a fair measure of success. Hope she replicates it in Pathankot too.