Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 4: All J&K Welfare Forum, Backward Classes Union-Rajouri Poonch and the presidents of OBC castes and communities under the banner of ‘O.B.C. Adhikar Tiranga Yatra” held an emergent meeting here, today in which the speakers expressed concern over the attitude of JKUT Government whom it blamed for denying the representation to OBCs of Kashmir province in the newly constituted ” Backward Classes Dedicated Commission-2024″. It said there is no representation of JK-UT OBCs in the Commission and the Kashmir region has also been totally ignored.
The speakers said that the name of this Commission is Backward Classes Dedicated Commission -2024 but there is no representation for OBCs in this Commission who have 68% population (41 castes) keeping in view the census-1931. The meeting said that OBCs of UT reject the non-OBC body.
The meeting also said that the way adopted by Social Welfare Department for counting OBC population through the Revenue Department in Jammu & Kashmir within two days is not acceptable to OBCs of the UT as it is not as per census Act. Regarding the counting JK-UT OBC population, Commissioner Social Welfare issued order on May 2 to Revenue Department for counting and submitted report on May-4 without making a door to door survey of OBC population. The survey should have been done by the Census Department of J&K. Ghulam Hassan, president of All J&K OBC Welfare Forum said that this was the main reason that JK-UT OBCs are still living as second class citizens due to injustice to which they were subjected by the erstwhile and present governments.
He said this is the main reason that the JK-UT OBCs have been deprived of 27% reservation in recruitment in Government services, higher education, Municipal Corporations/ Committees and in Panchayati Raj System.
The others who addressed the meeting included Javied Ahmed Teeli, Mushtak Ahmed Sheikh, Mohammad Akram, Abdul Rashid, Abdul Salam, Ghulam Qadir Kumhar, Abdul Samied Ganie, Ashiq Ahnger and Ghul Mohammad Gaw Gujri.