Gurdaspur Diary; Development was at a premium in Dera Baba Nanak bypoll

By Saturday morning, the chaff will have been separated from the grain, the winner from the loser. By noon, Dera Baba Nanak will have a new MLA. So far so good! But did anyone notice that in the run-up to the elections, not even a single word was uttered about developing the Assembly seat in the border area? The candidates wasted their energy and time in blaming each other for the problems of the area. There was plenty of talk about which gangster was backing whom and how these hooligans were threatening voters from their jail cells. Change is the essence of growth. If you are not changing, you are not growing. This, in essence, sums up the plight of the residents. Dera Baba Nanak has not changed in the past, and for the present, there is no talk of any development project that may change the fortunes of its constituents. This means it has stopped growing. Development is a multifaceted concept that refers to the advancement of a society in various aspects such as social, economic and environmental well-being. New projects can help the quality of life and create sustainable growth. Did somebody say: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Faulty road divider causing accidents, needs rectification

A road divider is constructed ostensibly to make roads safer for motorists as well as pedestrians. It is also used as a centre line to segregate two opposing traffic flows and prevent cross-over collisions. Interestingly, the first road divider that meets you when you enter the sleepy township of Dinanagar from Gurdaspur serves none of these purposes. Its height is abysmally low following which motorists are unable to sight it. Things get all the more complicated when the area is enveloped with fog as is happening these days. Accidents are happening with monotonous regularity. Proof can be found in the wards of hospitals where the injured get admitted. Dr Aman Kashyap, a Good Samaritan and a crusader, invited the media to make sure the world gets to know how dangerous the divider is. Rohit Ohri, a flourishing real estate owner who has his office barely yards away, counts on his fingers the mishaps that took place last week. And the week preceding that. The villain of the piece is the PWD department. Everybody knows how they plan and execute their projects. The department has established a road sign which is completely invisible to motorists. This is because a fully grown-up tree obstructs the road sign. That is how the PWD works! The divider was supposed to streamline traffic by separating the lanes. It does separate the lanes but in no way does it streamline the traffic. On the contrary, vehicles often go over the divider and turn turtle in the other lane. Some PWD officials, when contacted to get their side of the story, either washed their hands of the issue or brushed it under the carpet. To complicate matters, yards away there is a four-way intersection with one of the roads coming from the Behrampur side. A flyover is on this road, perilously close to the intersection. There have been reports that vehicles often roll down at high speed, creating a ready recipe for disaster. An officer said the problem is lack of funds. This excuse must not delay the rectification of the faulty divider, the Achilles' heel of the town. (Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)