Tarn Taran Diary

Rohi Wala Pul a threat to commuters

The Rohi Wala Pul site on the Amritsar side in Tarn Taran town has become a serious threat for commuters, especially for children and women. It is also posing health hazards because of the indifferent attitude of the officials. The site has been allotted for a taxi stand and rehri operators to resolve the traffic problem on the main road in the town. The town has a rich religious background as it was established by the fifth Sikh Guru Sri Arjun Dev more than 400 years back. The Rohi Wala Pul site is mostly used for dumping garbage and as grazing ground for stray animals. Ajit Singh, president of the New Public Taxi Stand, besides Harminder Singh Soni, Ranjit Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul and its other office-bearers said that the site has been allotted for a taxi stand by the local administration but due to negligence on the part of the administration, it has been converted into a garbage dumping site where not only the garbage of the town is dumped but residue from nearby private hospitals and hotels too is dumped. The stray dogs come here to feed on the dumped garbage. The taxi operators said that many a time, school-going children and women passing by, are barked at by the dogs. Sometimes, they intervene to save children from the dogs that can bite them. To add to the beauty of the site, followers of noted environmentalist Baba Sewa Singh of Khadoor Sahib planted 21 saplings here some time back. Tree-guards were also installed for the safety of the saplings but these saplings and tree guards are nowhere to be seen, a clear-cut case of negligence on the part of the administration due to lack of security. The garbage is seen burning here the whole day causing pollution and posing health hazards too. The taxi operators said that they have brought the matter to the notice of the Municipal Council and other officials concerned many a time but no positive response has been received till date. As a result, the whole site has been converted into a garbage dump and grazing ground for stray animals. Not just this, both sides of the Rohi (Kasur drain) passing through the town has been turned into a garbage dumping site with no concern shown by the administration.

Stone laid for widening road, work yet to start

Many public representatives have recalled the minister who laid the stone meant to inaugurate the four-laning of Tarn Taran-Amritsar road via Chabba more than a year back. The representatives said that there are many such stones laid for development works since the present AAP government came to power in state. But work on many of them has not started till date. This stone speaks of its tale — that it was laid on February 1, 2024, by minister Harbhajan Singh ETO at a function organised in Tarn Taran in which Jaswinder Singh Ramdas, MLA, Attari, and Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal, MLA from Tarn Taran, too attended. The public function was also attended by people of the area. The 20-km long road project was necessitated due to commuting by lakhs of devotees visiting the holy Sikh shrines of Chabba village and that of Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh, Amritsar, making the road busy, resulting in traffic jams. Most of the time, the road witnesses traffic jams and in case a vehicle stops in the middle of the road due to a snag, traffic gets blocked for hours together. Gurdwara Tahla Sahib, Chabba, Gurdwara Sangrana Sahib, Samadh Baba Naudh Singh, Gurdwara Jhulne Mehal, Gurdwara Lalkar Sahib, Gohalwar, Gurdwara Lakir Sahib Fatehchakk and some other religious places too are situated on this road where countless number of devotees come to pay their obeisance daily round-the-clock. The road is busy as many industrial units function along this road in villages Gohalwar, Pandori Ran Singh, Pandori Sidhwana, Varpal, Chabba, Guruwali and others. Heera Singh Kandianwala, Sukhdev Singh Gohalwar, Dr.Ajmer Singh, Jaswinder Singh Manochahal and a number of other social activists have demanded that the four-laning of the road be immediately started as making the road accident-free is the need of the hour. The social activists said that this would satisfy the devotees too.

Trees in SDM office complex pose risk to safety

Karam Singh Lalpura, a veteran sports person and resident of Tarn Taran, has demanded the immediate removal of uprooted trees from the SDM office complex to prevent any untoward incident. Karam Singh said that there are many such trees which are situated along the road. These pose the risk of falling on high-voltage cables passing along the road resulting in possible damage. He said that he has been raising the issue for more than three years to bring the matter to the notice of the officials concerned, specially the SDM, Tarn Taran, but the administration appeared to be unconcerned. Karam Singh has also sought the renovation of SDM complex where waterlogging takes place during rains. He said that the condition of the SDM office complex has become worse than even a kutcha road.

Amritsar