Jammu, November 08, 2022 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of people in Nehru market of Jammu city risk their lives every day as they continue to live in ramshackle government flats which have outlived their utility years back.

There is little to no hope of a safe rehabilitation of these people from the authorities. The Jammu Development Authority (JDA) had declared these buildings “unsafe for habitation” in 2012, yet they house several families and businesses. Nehru market is IIOJK’s biggest warehouse belt with the firms operating in the territory since decades.

The three buildings in the market housing 72 quarters and over 50 shops were constructed in the early 1950s in the heart of the city. But over the decades, they have been reduced to being dilapidated structures posing a very literal danger to the residents.

The residents say that besides being very old, these buildings are also the victims of neglect and poor maintenance by the estates department and JDA. They have been demanding their shifting to a safer place and say that it appears that the authorities are waiting for a catastrophe before they wake up.

Bharat Bushan, who lives with his three-member family in one of the in quarters says, “I feel the government is waiting for a tragedy to happen before they wake up. For 32 years, no repair and renovation was carried out by the JDA and estates department.”

Bushan’s wife Meenakshi says, “There is no care of us. Despite repeated requests, neither they renovated the buildings, nor provided us alternative accommodation.”

JDA declared the buildings unsafe for living and for carrying out trading activity in 2012-13 after considering the assessment of the Public Works department which had notified JDA that the buildings had outlived their utility and structural stability.

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