Visionless minds: After construction of ‘Joggers Park’ in the ‘Red Zone,’ Poonch administration now plans construction of a ‘Park’

Visionless minds: After construction of ‘Joggers Park’ in the ‘Red Zone,’ Poonch administration now plans construction of a ‘Park’

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: All bureaucrats are not brilliant, and this has been proved a number of times going by the past developmental history of the Poonch district. Only a few officers were able to justify their performance as per their titles, but the majority of them proved to be average ones.

After witnessing flood-like situations a number of times, the Poonch district administration in 2014 and 2018 imposed a blanket ban on all types of constructions in the ‘Red Zone,’ but with the deep involvement of tainted officers of the administration, illegal constructions remained a continued affair for years. A former IAS DC gave a green signal for the construction of ‘Joggers Park’ in the ‘Red Zone’ after throwing taxpayers’ money into the Poonch River. It was an indirect attempt to legalize all the illegal constructions in the ‘Red Zone.’ Now, another attempt has been planned by the Poonch municipality for the construction of a park near the Poonch River, which is actually a ‘Red Zone’ area. When municipality officials were contacted on the issue, they said that, as per the NGT direction, the Poonch municipality will construct a park at the same place that was used for dumping waste material. It is pertinent to mention here that a few people have made a mockery of the system and used to put pressure on the government through various means to secure their business interests. The Poonch municipality has decided to construct a park in the ‘Red Zone’ area, and it seems to be another rubbish decision after the construction of ‘Joggers Park’ in the ‘Red Zone’. This clearly shows that the law of the land is for a poor man and not for influential forces. Such open frauds in the Poonch administration show that not all bureaucrats are brilliant; most prefer self-serving actions within the system. Despite witnessing recent flood tragedies in different parts of Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu, Nepal, and other Indian states, the self-styled efficient officers of the Poonch administration seem to have not learned any lesson, and thanks to their social media touts, the same set of inefficient officers are branded as honest and visionary when the reality about their work culture is altogether different. The horrible state of affairs in the Poonch administration shows that the district is at the mercy of God, going by such visionless decisions of the Poonch administration. Throwing taxpayers’ money into the Poonch River repeatedly just to satisfy a few influential law violators has shown that the Poonch administration is short of brilliant minds, as the main job of some officers is to fulfill their hidden agenda of supporting men and machinery of their self-interest. It is pertinent to mention here that on the issue of ‘Red Zone,’ Poonch municipality many times said that the area doesn’t fall within its jurisdiction and the area falls within the Kanuyian village, but as far as the construction of the bus stand and proposed park is concerned, Poonch municipality showed the other way. Such types of open frauds are a clear-cut example that a common man has no value in Poonch, but only a handful of influential ones could force the administration to do whatever they want, thanks to the hand-in-glove coordination between them. The Poonch administration breaks its own rules. First it declared the area as a ‘Red Zone,’ then the same administration allowed illegal constructions and joggers’ park, and now the latest plan of construction of a park in the ‘Red Zone’ shows that the system in the Poonch administration is running at the mercy of God, where so-called efficient officers are not blessed with a brilliant mind despite having lavish bureaucratic titles. Men with integrity and vision are rare in the bureaucratic setups, and Poonchites have experienced this a number of times. As open frauds are going on in the ‘Red Zone’ area with the full support of the Poonch administration, it’s high time for the J&K government to investigate the matter. If a flood of higher intensity strikes Poonch and causes massive damage, who would be held responsible for allowing illegal constructions in the ‘Red Zone’?