‘Roshni scamsters, land grabbers opposing new Land Law’
Avtar Bhat
CHENANI, Nov 25: Maintaining that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi introduced the real concept of self rule and autonomy in J&K, Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh today alleged that National Conference (NC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress failed to strengthen the grass root democracy in the erstwhile State during their decades long rule.
Addressing meetings during the District Development Council (DDC) election campaign in Chenani area, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is PM Narendra Modi who introduced the autonomy and self rule in real sense in J&K after seven decades with the holding of Block Development Committee (BDC) and DDC elections for the first time.
He said PDP which was talking of self rule even did not show any interest in holding these elections to strengthen the basic institutes of democracy. But it even boycotted these elections, which indicated that party was not interested in transferring power to grass root level. Click here to watch video
Dr Jitendra Singh said the NC on the other hand talked of autonomy for decades together but never showed any interest in strengthening the Panchayati Raj system in J&K. The autonomy concept of NC was for the party and selected dynasties. Even it did not show any interest in implementation of 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments in J&K which was meant to strengthening the Panchayati Raj system in the country. The law was implemented in entire country except J&K as the NC leadership took a rigid stand taking the advantage of controversial Article 370, he added.
Not absolving Congress of its responsibility in this regard and accusing it of playing second fiddle to NC and PDP in J&K and supporting the stand of these parties on the issue, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Congress leaders did not take up the issue of implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments of the Indian Constitution despite the fact that the law was passed by Indian Parliament during the Rajiv Gandhi Government at Centre.
The Congress shared power with both NC and PDP in the J&K but its leaders never bothered to get the law implemented in the erstwhile State to empower basic institutes of democracy and instead maintained a stoic silence, he added.
Accusing the Roshni scamsters and land grabbers of opposing the new land law of Jammu & Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the new land law is not against the common man or the poor, but against the mafia members of politician-administration nexus who have been for over half a century, constructing huge mansions, bunglows and commercial complexes on unauthorized land. It is precisely for this reason that all these habitual law breakers have ganged up to spread a disinformation campaign against the land law which has been implemented as per the provisions of the Constitution of India
The new land law will check Roshni like scams and illegal land grabbing in future, he said, adding most of the cases of illegal occupation of land and illegal constructions were carried out during the National Conference-Congress and PDP-Congress governments, and its beneficiaries include high profile Ministers and bureaucrats from Kashmir as well as some of the then Ministers from the Jammu region who are now trying to deviate attention from their unlawful activities by crying hoarse for the cause of Jammu.
It is interesting to see, said Dr Jitendra Singh, that some of these former Ministers had always been demanding CBI inquiry even for insignificant cases but when the CBI has taken up the cases of land grabbing, unauthorized land use and unauthorized land purchase against the same persons, they have started objecting to the investigation. He said, as former Ministers, Chief Ministers and senior officials, the minimum they could do to establish their credibility and propriety is to cooperate with the CBI and prove their innocence.
Hitting hard at the false propaganda regarding MGNREGA payments having been stopped, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the matter of fact is that the payment has been stopped for the agents who were acting as middlemen and taking away all the MGNREGA funds. Under the instructions of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, he said, a foolproof method has been developed of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the bank accounts of the MGNREGA workers so that the middlemen do not exploit them. This change – over to the new mode of payment, which also included opening of bank accounts for some of the MGNREGA workers may have caused some delay but the middlemen and the agents will not be allowed to take even a single penny from the MGNREGA amount, he added.
As far as Chenani is concerned, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s first ever major Government project named after Shyama Prasad Mookerjee is the Chenani-Nashri tunnel, which has brought this place on the national map of India. He said, most of the time before 2014, this place was represented by the Congress MLAs and MPs but it is only during the last six years that the pending public demands were fulfilled including Tawi bridge, Degree College, new National Highway with tunnel from Sudhmahadev to Khellani, upgraded Kendriya Vidyalaya at Chenani etc.
Taking a dig at the opposition, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the land at Mantalai was given to Dhirendra Brahmchari on the instructions of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi but for 35 years after the death of Dhirendra Brahamchari, Congress leaders who otherwise claim to be Indira Gandhi’s followers left that land undeveloped and it is only now that the Modi Government allocated Rs 100 crore to develop this place as a State-of-the-art, world-class Yoga-cum-Wellness Centre with all the modern facilities.
Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated that all the injustice to Jammu was done when the Congress and National Conference Ministers from Jammu were part of the Governments and if they are now saying that Jammu did not get its due, they are actually raising question mark on their own role as Ministers at that time.
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