JAMMU: Public Health and Sanitation (PHS) committee of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) is all set to take strict action against those people who are using illegal ways to draw groundwater and private operators indulging in septic tank cleaning business without proper permission.
Chairman of Public Health Sanitation Committee of JMC, NS Jamwal while chairing the monthly meeting said that rampant use of submersible pumps to draw underground water is being witnessed in the city which is the major cause behind dwindling water table. He said that JMC will not tolerate this menace and a strict action will be taken against such persons to stop the depletion of ground water in the city. He also raised the issue of private operators doing the business of cleaning the septic tanks using ‘improvised’ vehicles like tractor trollies illegally as they have not taken permission for the same from the JMC and also their disposal method is crude and rough creating sanitation problems for the city dwellers.
He said that doing this business illegally these operators are also incurring revenue loss to the government as they doing it without paying the requisite fee to the JMC. He claimed that Jammu City has been segregated into 5 zones comprising 15 wards each with exclusive PHS Committees unlike earlier when there were only three zones. He said that this will help in better performance as the area under the jurisdiction of JMC has been expanded significantly and covering the existing three zones has become a tough job. He said that JMC has also raised the number of CTOs to two from the existing single officer to facilitate its working across the city comprising 75 wards.
The issue of dearth of potable water in many areas was also highlighted in the meeting as PHE department has come under the control of JMC and people are approaching the parent department to seek redressal of their problems.
