JAMMU, Sep 30: Provincial President, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party Women Wing, Pavneet Kour, today convened a public meeting in Ward No. 73, Bhour Camp, to interact directly with residents and take stock of the problems being faced by the people in their day-to-day lives.
During the meeting, residents apprised Pavneet Kour of a number of issues concerning basic amenities and public services. The participants said that ration-card-related problems have emerged as one of the most pressing concerns in the area, with the names of several grown-up children not being incorporated in ration cards. They also highlighted difficulties faced by families in getting the names of daughters who have shifted from one place to another updated or incorporated in their ration-card records.
Another major concern raised during the interaction was the poor quality of drinking water being supplied to the locality. Residents complained that the water is often dirty and unfit for consumption, creating serious concerns about public health and exposing families, particularly children and elderly persons, to the risk of water-borne infections. They urged the concerned authorities to ensure regular testing, proper treatment and clean drinking-water supply.
Apart from these issues, residents also highlighted the need for improvement of internal roads and lanes, better drainage and sanitation arrangements, regular lifting of garbage, functioning streetlights and improved maintenance of public infrastructure. They sought timely intervention to address waterlogging and sanitation-related problems, particularly during rains, and demanded that civic agencies undertake regular field inspections instead of waiting for complaints to accumulate.
The residents further sought improvement in public grievance-redressal mechanisms, saying that people, especially women and senior citizens, often have to make repeated visits to government offices for relatively routine documentation and civic matters. They urged the authorities to organise special camps in the locality for ration-card corrections, addition and deletion of names and other essential public-service-related requirements.
Listening patiently to the grievances, Pavneet Kour said that the purpose of organising such public interactions was to ensure that the concerns of ordinary citizens, particularly women and economically weaker sections, reach the appropriate authorities in a systematic manner.
She said that issues relating to ration cards and access to safe drinking water cannot be treated as routine administrative matters, as they directly affect the lives and welfare of families. She assured the residents that the concerns raised during the meeting would be taken up with the concerned departments and that efforts would be made to seek time-bound redressal of genuine issues.
Pavneet Kour also stressed the importance of maintaining clean surroundings, proper drainage, functional streetlights and well-maintained roads and lanes, saying that development should be reflected in basic civic facilities available to residents at the grassroots level.
She said that the Apni Party would continue to provide a platform where people could openly put forward their grievances and seek solutions through democratic and institutional means. She maintained that regular interaction with residents was essential for understanding problems that may otherwise remain unnoticed at the administrative level.
The meeting was attended by Senior Vice President, Minority Wing, Harjeet Singh; Vice President Paramjeet Singh; District President Women’s Wing (Rural), Ritu Pandita; District President Minority Wing, Inderpal Singh; and party workers and local residents, including Balwinder Kour, Paramjeet Kour, Harjeet Kour and Pinky, among others.
The gathering concluded with residents urging the concerned departments to give priority to the problems of Ward 73 and ensure that basic civic facilities, particularly clean drinking water and proper ration-card services, are made available to every eligible family without unnecessary delays.