Subways turn safe haven for drug peddlers, alcoholics

Vikram Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 6

The subways constructed at different places in Jammu have become a safe haven for drug peddlers and alcoholics.

At the subway near the Kala Kendra, Bikram Chowk, which opens at the other end near Polytechnic College, the entire underground stretch can be seen littered with empty bottles, syringes and intoxicating medicines.

The whole stretch also stinks of urine and excreta which has made impossible for pedestrians to move through it. Women also fear taking this route.

“When it was built two years ago, the subway was frequented by the public but soon, it started getting used by alcoholics and drugs peddlers. So people stopped moving through it,” said Beli Ram, a cobbler who runs a kiosk nearby.

He said many locals as well as migrant labourers use the subway every morning to attend the nature’s call which leaves it stinking and impossible to move through.

Purnima Sharma, Deputy Mayor, said she would visit the subway and issue necessary directions.

Amit Gupta, corporator, Bikram Chowk, said, “I will tell the in charge of the police post in the area to get the subway cleared.” He, however, added that since the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) was short of safai karamcharis, many areas were left unattended.

“The corporation needs to employ more workers so that work can be done smoothly,” Gupta said.

Team Jammu chairman Zorawar Singh Jamwal said since their organisation was a watchdog on drug peddlers, it often informed the administration and police about the illegal activities.

“The administration, JMC and police need to pull up their socks to end the menace in the city which they have failed to do so far,” Jamwal said.

Similar is the condition at the subway in the Digiana area which is full of filth and muck. The subway connects to the Industrial Estate on the one side while it opens near a school on the other side on the Jammu-Pathankot highway .

Devoid of any lighting system and sanitation, it is a dark and dingy stretch which is only used by drug addicts and liquor consumers.