Jugsalai residents hope for better civic amenities post civic body polls

Jamshedpur: The residents of Jugsalai Municipal Council (JMC), who will elect 22 ward members in the civic polls after a gap of 44 years, are pinning their hopes on an elected urban municipal body representative to better civic amenities.“Poor public infrastructure and municipal garbage are the two primary concerns of the residents. Irregular cleaning of the drains, disposal of the garbage from the colonies, markets and streets are the issues that we have been living with for four decades,” Jugsalai Nagrik Sangarsh Samiti convenor Shailendra Singh said.Noting that there’s a stark difference in the amenities enjoyed by the people living in the Tata Steel command area and those in the Jugsalai municipal area, Singh said, “They expect better amenities after a municipal body is elected.”Jugsalai Notified Area Committee was formed in 1924 and upgraded to municipality in 1976. The first municipal elections were held in 1977. Thereafter, the second and last civic body polls were held in 1983. Jugsalai municipality was accorded the status of Jugsalai Municipal Council in 2017.“In the last three decades, human population of our municipal area has increased tremendously. The number of vehicles has also increased multi-fold but the narrow roads remain the same. Adding to the woes is the garbage piled on the roadsides,” said local resident and Jamshedpur Wholesale Cloth Merchants’ body president Anil Modi.Naya Bazar resident Dinesh Singh said, “Stray animals’ population has increased and dog-bite cases are being reported on a regular basis. But the initiatives to contain the problem are lacking.”