Year 2019 — a mixed bag for Karnal residents

Parveen Arora

The year 2019 has ended and Karnal district has witnessed several ups and downs. Except witnessing slow pace of development works, residents feel they failed to get any major project in 2019.

Since it was an election year and Karnal city retained the tag of CM city, the ruling BJP lost two major Assembly seats — Assandh and Nilokheri — in the recently held elections in the district. However, in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP retained its seat and its candidate Sanjay Bhatia won with the second highest victory margin in the country.

It was a year of change and growth for the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC). The new house of the KMC took charge of the office. In cleanliness, Karnal city improved its ranking from 41st in 2018 and 65th in 2017 to 24th in Swachh Survekshan 2019.

Besides, it retained the status of Open Defection Free Plus Plus (ODF++). The district also got the first position in Haryana and 13th rank in the country of 256 districts in Jal Shakti Abhiyan of the Central government for adopting measures for water conservation.

The Smart City project has again disappointed residents, as it could not pick up pace this year too.

The foundation stone of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University of Health Sciences, Karnal, in Kutail village was laid on February 12, 2019, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video-conferencing from Kurukshetra, which is among the big achievements of the year.

Apart from it, the government started works on the widening of all major entry roads to the city. The widening work of the Karnal-Kaithal state highway also commenced this year. The long pending project of the Western Bypass was also dedicated last year. Synthetic track at Karan stadium has been given a new colour, while the six-laning of Agrasen Chowk to Baldi Bypass with a welcome gate on the name of Shrimad Bhagwad Gita has made the entrance of the city attractive and beautiful.

The project of providing better water facility and sewerage at the cost of Rs46 crore in 27 newly regularised colonies was also laid, which was a long pending demand of residents living in the newly authorised colonies.

Inauguration of nursing and physiotherapy colleges were among the new projects which were given to the district in 2019. With the inauguration of Atal Kisan Mazdoor canteen, Karnal has become the first district to start such canteen in the state. A 14-feet tall statue of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee has made the Atal Park attractive.

“We were expecting that the Smart City work will pace up, but due to elections and model code of conduct, various ambitious projects under the Smart City could not be implemented,” said Manoj Pahuja, a resident of the city.

“We are happy that Karnal has retained the tag of the CM city this year, but our expectations of better development in the fifth year of the first tenure of the BJP government could not be met, as the slow pace had delayed various projects,” said Sudhir Chaudhary, another resident.

Uninterrupted power

The UHBVN also made several efforts to provide uninterrupted electricity supply in 2019. Besides issuing 18,793 new electricity connections, it has increased the capacity of eight 33-kv sub-stations and established four new power stations. Apart from it, the UHBVN Karnal circle strengthened the lines of around 33km in 2019. SK Chawla, SE, UHBVN, said the work on 13 more new sub-stations was under way and these would be completed before the upcoming paddy season. In 2019, 79 villages of the 39 feeders had been included in ‘Mhara Gaon Jagmag Gaon’. Now, as many as 396 villages are getting 24-hour electricity under this scheme, he said.

Shifting of dairies

“Shifting of dairies outside the city is a long pending demand of the city. The CM had also announced to shift these. We were expecting that it would be shifted in 2019. We are now hopeful that these will be shifted outside the city in Pingli village, where the KMC has already purchased a land for it,” said Rajiv Kumar, a social activist of the city.

Work on new sugar mill

Sugarcane farmers are expecting that the work of the new sugar mill will be completed before the next crushing season. “We are hopeful that the new sugar mill will be functional before the next crushing season,” said Kewal Krishan, a farmer of Nagla village. Nishant Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, is also hopeful that they will achieve new milestones of development this year.

Downfall in grave crimes

In 2019, lathicharge on ITI students by the police made headlines. On the other hand, the district witnessed a slight downfall in grave crimes. As many as 123 rape cases have been reported in 2019 against 140 in 2018. Similarly, 62 murder cases were registered in 2019, including the major murder of Dr Rajiv Gupta, against 73 in 2018. Cases of loot declined slightly as 58 FIRs of loot were registered in 2019 against 63 in 2018. Dacoity cases witnessed a rise to six cases in 2019 from five in 2018. Snatchings, which were a cause for worry for the police since a long time, have come down to 86 cases from 136 in 2018. Vehicle thefts and burglary still haunt the police. However, both crimes have witnessed a downfall. As many as 839 cases of vehicle thefts were registered in 2019 against 939 in 2018. Similarly, as many as 468 cases of burglary were registered in 2019 against 575 in 2018. As many as 344 fatal accidents took place on various roads of the district against 358 in 2018.

Surinder Singh Bhoria, SP, said in 2020, they would focus on taking measures to control the crime. “We will also emphasise on reducing accidents with public participation and also bring down incidents of burglary,” he said.

Expectations from new year

In 2020, the district has a lot of expectations including the completion of horticulture university, starting of the work on long pending project of Western Bypass, facilities under NCR to Karnal, expansion of aviation club, connecting National Highway-44 from Madhuban with Kunjpura Road and Meerut road. Besides, they expected the commencement of work on laying the railway lines between Karnal and Yamunanagar. Shifting of dairies was also a long pending demand, which is expected to be fulfilled this year. Residents living across the railway lines in Ram Nagar, Prem Nagar and other colonies may get a railway foot bridge and a vehicle over bridge. They are also hopeful that they would get the facility of the stoppage of various trains.

‘Focus will be on completing all major projects in the district’

"I joined last week and I am reviewing the progress report of various development projects. My focus will be on completing all major projects in the district. The completion of Western Bypass, digitalisation of 'Lal Dora' map and providing ownership record to the residents of Sirsi village, which is the first Lal Dora-free village of the state, commencement of the work on the CM's announcement of the widening of Karnal-Meerut Road, completion of various roads connecting Karnal with Indri, Karnal with Assandh and Jind, Karnal with Kaithal district, shifting of dairies outside the city, completion of railway foot over bridge, establishing new sugar mill, strengthening health and education infrastructure are among my top priorities. We will push the Smart City project this year and also replace all conventional lights with LEDs. We will start the work on the Mughal Canal phase-II and III this year." —  Nishant Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner

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