Moga residents cry for basic amenities

Complain of dug-up roads, stray cattle menace | Development works incomplete

Quote: Budgets allocated in hurry

“The MC Commissioner Anita Darshi hurriedly allocated budgets for works, a couple of months before the announcement of civic body elections, to benefit the ruling Congress party.” — Jarnail Singh, former Deputy Mayor

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, February 17

Located in the heart of Punjab, Moga is the favourite venue for all political parties to kick-start their poll campaigns during the time of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. However, the senior leaders of all parties invariably ””””lose interest”””” in Moga after the elections, affecting development works.

In the past 10 years, the Congress and the SAD-BJP had announced a state-of-the-art trauma centre, a government college for women, a sports stadium, a transport area, an urban estate to be developed by PUDA and clean potable water by installing reverse osmosis (RO) plants in all wards, which never saw the light of day.

Considering the presence of uranium in the underground water, the then Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, in 2011, had promised to install RO plants in all wards of the city. A detailed project report had been made by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, but nothing was done on this front. The project was also passed by the erstwhile municipal council, but the state did not approve it.

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 2010-2011 collected samples of underground water in Moga city and found 124.7 microns of uranium per litre as against the normal level of 60 microns per litre.

In 2002, a draft proposal — ‘People’s project for the beautification of Moga”””” — was prepared. It remained only on paper. As a result, heaps of garbage can be seen on the roads. The residents alleged that no effective steps were taken to remove encroachments.

Ravinder Singh Grewal, a local advocate, said, “The status of the local civic body was raised to that of a corporation in 2012 to boost development in the city, but not much has changed.”

He said Moga was once a flourishing town. However, it had lost its relevance over the years. “Civic amenities have failed to match the rising population. Traffic is one of the major problems bugging the residents,” he said.

Dug-up roads lead to water stagnation. A couple of months before the announcement of civic body elections, the MC Commissioner Anita Darshi passed budgetary allocations for many development works. “The budgets were hurriedly allocated at the last moment to benefit the ruling Congress party,” alleged Dr Jarnail Singh, former Deputy Mayor of the city.

An indoor stadium constructed on the MC land is lying non-functional for the past many years. It is used during the time of elections for counting of votes.

Bhavna Bansal, a social worker, said, “There are no toilets and drinking water facility at public places. The sweepers never clean the roads. There is no parking facility in the main markets.”

The menace of stray cattle and dogs also continues to haunt the residents. As per an estimate, there were at least 1,000 stray cows in the city, they said.