New Gurdaspur DC has task cut out for him
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, August 16
The new Deputy Commissioner (DC) Uma Shankar Gupta finds his hands full as he will have to handle a plethora of problems, a majority of which require his direct intervention.
This is a district where the flow of deadly heroin from Pakistan through state-of-the-art drones continues unabated. Consequently, the lives and livelihood of hundreds of youths are at risk. Although this is a problem which is being directly handled by the security agencies, yet the new incumbent will do well to generate employment opportunities. Only then can the youth be weaned away from the near fatal grasp of the white powder.
A few months ago, the then Deputy Commissioner (DC) Himanshu Aggarwal tried to solve the traffic dilemma by asking shopkeepers and commercial establishments, including banks and private hospitals, to use their basements for parking purposes. The owners of these entities get the drawings of their establishments passed by the Municipal Committee (MC) in such a way that it is assumed that these basements will be used as parking lots. However, seldom do these people adhere to the norms and start using their basements illegally for commercial purposes in blatant violation of norms. DC Gupta will have to take some hard decisions and on the way he will find himself confronting the angry private doctors’ lobby who are the main offenders.
The industrial town of Batala forms an integral part of Gurdaspur revenue district. The DC will have to convince the state government to give tax concessions to hundreds of once flourishing industrial units. It will require one massive effort from the officer if some oxygen has to be pumped into these floundering factories. A majority of them have either shut down or have shifted base to the neighbouring states of J&K and Himachal Pradesh which offer lucrative rebates and tax concessions.
He will also have to handle the local MC with kid-gloves if he has to solve civic problems of the city. The problem here is that all the 29 councillors of the MC are Congressmen but the Gurdaspur halqa in-charge Raman Bahl is an AAP politician. The officer will have to walk like a trapeze artist if he has to keep all the stakeholders in a happy frame of mind. Only then can developmental works be planned and executed.
On the political front, Gupta will have to take on board Bahl on every policy, every rule he formulates. Of late, Bahl following his proximity with the powers-that-be in Chandigarh and New Delhi, has acquired a lot of influence. The fact that he is also the Chairman of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) only adds to his stature. The DC will have to work in tandem with Bahl if new projects are to be ushered in. In Batala, he can rely on SDM-cum-Batala MC Commissioner Shayari Bhandari. The main problem that Batala faces pertains to narrow roads and clogged alleys leading to traffic snarls all over the place. He will have to convince shopkeepers on the one-way rule within the MC limits of the city if there has to be some respite from the traffic chaos.
