Avtar Bhat
Vijaypur Assembly Segment in Samba district has maintained a tradition of not repeating the MLA next time. Since the last three Assembly polls held in 1996, 2002 and 2008, the people of Vijaypur did not repeat the MLA. Now the only time will tell whether the people of Vijaypur will maintain this tradition this time also or vote the sitting MLA, Surjit Singh Slathia again and give him their mandate for next six years.
Bordering Samba in South and South East, Jammu in North, Bishnah in West, Vijaypur Assembly segment is situated on Indo Pak border. The Constituency also falls on Jammu -Pathankote National Highway and maximum people here are dependent on agriculture as most of its area is plan and has a fertile land for cultivation.
In 1996 the people stamped the candidature of present MLA and former Minister Surjeet Singh Slathia and elected him to Assembly. But in 2002 he was defeated by the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, Manjit Singh who later joined Congress. However not withstanding the impact of Amarnath land row agitation in 2008 Assembly elections, Mr Slathia was again elected to the State Assembly by the people of Vijaypur Constituency to represent them in House.
The Constituency which was carved out in 1962 was earlier known as Ramgarh Constituency and first time Babu Parmanand was elected from this Assembly segment on NC ticket. However in next Assembly elections held in 1967 Dinanath was elected from this Assembly segment on Congress ticket. In 1972 Baldev Singh of Congress was elected from this Assembly Segment. Later the Constituency was rechristened as Bari Brahmana and Mrs Gurbachan Kumari was elected to State Assembly from here in 1977 on Janata Party ticket. In 1983 Assembly elections when the Constituency was also under the name of Bari Brahmana Assembly Segment, Gourishanker of Congress was elected from this Constituency while in 1987 Assembly elections Swarn Lata of Congress was elected from this Assembly segment and the Constituency was named as Vijaypur.
Later on in 1996 Surjit Singh Slathia was elected from this Assembly segment on NC ticket but he lost to Manjit Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2002 elections.
So far as the performance of sitting MLA is concerned there is a mixed response. While some people in various parts of the Constituency laud his role and performance others have grievances showing total dissatisfaction with his performance during his stint as MLA or Minister.
The people while lauding his performance said that the MLA worked for the betterment of the people and development of the Constituency as a whole during his tenure. But time will only tell whether the people of this Constituency will go with the performance of MLA or keep the tradition alive of changing the candidate.
Joginder Kumar of Ward No 2 Vijaypur while lauding the performance of MLA said the people mainly have no grievance with him as MLA has done remarkable work during his five year’s stint. The MLA worked in every sector including opening and upgradation of schools in his Constituency, bringing new water supply schemes, constructing roads and lanes, installing transformers, he added. Even Joginder gave credit to opening of Degree College at Samba to MLA Vijaypur saying it was due to his hard efforts that Degree College was opened at Samba.
Sham Lal a resident of Vijaypur said people are satisfied with functioning of Mr Slathia but Vijaypur has a maintained a tradition as it has never repeated the MLA.
Ram Lal of Sapra Vijaypur said that people have no grievances with Slathia and he deserves mandate again as he did a lot of work in the Constituency.
Similar were the views of Swaran Lal, an electrician from village Gorkwala Vijaypur. He says the way Slathia worked in his Constituency he deserves all support and vote. He suggested that candidate should be given preference to party.
However many people have resentment against the MLA also and one of the resentment against him is that he failed to get the Ayurvedic College which was already proposed to be constructed in the Vijaypur Constituency and for which the land was also identified. “The MLA let us down by not getting the college for the Constituency despite Government proposal,” said Vishal Sharma of Sarore.
Khazan Shah ex Chairman Notified Area Committee, Vijaypur also expressed his total dissatisfaction saying the developmental works are stand still.
The development also eludes in the area from Purmandal Morh to Birpur Data Talab as the road is in dilapidated condition there having deep ditches in which the rain water gets accumulated especially in rainy season putting the people to many hardships.
Shamsher Singh Jamwal a local resident says the road in the area was blacktopped and within 15 days it was eroded. The road is presently in worst condition, he adds. Akhtar Hussain another resident says that the money being distributed among BPL families was not given till date. He says those deserving BPL are ignored.
Accusing the construction agencies of not constructing the road as per specification Shamsher Singh demanded a probe into the same saying the peoples money is being wasted in this regard.
Gautam Singh Sarpanch Birpur alleges that the Sarpanchs are not being taken into confidence while starting the construction works. He says that in NREGA works Birpur was totally ignored. Without his consent the NREGA money was distributed among labourer which is against the standing rules. In framing of laborer sheets there is a nexus between Gram Sevaks and BDO, he alleges.
Highlighting their grievances he says Birpur has High School of 1959 and it has not been upgraded to higher secondary school so far which is grave injustice with the people of the area.
Alleging favouritsm in distribution of money for BPL families, he says 25 to 30 families are given ration under BPL and only three families were provided money for construction of houses under BPL.
Raghubir Singh of the same area says that during the elections of 2008 the leaders of NC announced that 8th pass youth will be given job in police while addressing poll rallies but this was a total exploitation of youth as later this promise was not kept.
The political representative deceived the people by lying but how long he can deceive, says Girdhari Lal Dogra another resident.
Accusing the local MLA of making false promises always, he says that Ayurvedic College was promised for Birpur and 120 kanals of land for the same was marked by JDA but much to the discomfiture of the people later the college was taken to Akhnoor.
“When we took up the issue with MLA he said he does not know,” says Shamsher Singh of Birpur.
The problems are no less in Kartholi Sarore area where the link road is in dilapidated condition and 10 to 12 Gujjar houses face water problem, says Noor Jhan a resident of Gujjar Basti. The long pending demand of people of Kartholi to construct a bridge over canal has not been considered and the people have to travel over a distance of two kilometers to reach the National Highway which is otherwise at a 50 meter distance, says Sunil Puri a local resident.
Moreover, there is no passenger shed on Highway at Bari Brahmana which is the main problem being faced by commuters. There are no lavatory blocks in the market for convenience of people or passengers. Same is the problem in Vijaypur market, says Gautam.
Poli Devi of Kartholi while highlighting the problems said that they face power crisis as the transformer is of low capacity and the local link road is in bad condition. “Our demand for installation of high voltage transformer has not been conceded so far”, she adds.
The problems are worst in Khadargal in Parli Morh Panchayat of Vijaypur Constituency say residents. The people face power and water scarcity problems while condition of link road is also worst. But no one hears the woes of the people says Jagdish Roy of Khadargal. The condition of pond at Tarore is worst and the irrigation canal at Khadargal has not been cleaned but the water does not reach the fields, he adds.
He says the lanes have not been developed in the village and the electric wires laid in 1977 have not been changed since then while BPL is not given to people who are affiliated to other parties than NC.
He says work order of veterinary hospital was given to him and after spending Rs 4,0000 on execution later the work was stopped and since then it is stand still. Same was done in case of School at Tarore, he adds.
Patli Vijaypur people face 12 to 14 hour power cuts daily, says Dwarikanath Sharma a trader. He says there is a divider on National Highway at Patli on wrong side, which often causes fatal accidents.
The people allege money was released for the development of village Nagana under MGNREGA but the same was not utilized on ground. Rs 2.70 lakh were shown in papers were released but not utilized on ground says Bishamber Dass of Patli Morh. There is no Government school in the village and students even for primary education have to travel to Tarore which is one Km away. Besides, the lanes and drains are in bad condition and there is also shortage of ration, he adds.
There is no road link to Government Girls High School Tarore. The work was started on construction of new road from National Highway to Higher Secondary but later work abandoned for unknown reasons, says Khajoor Singh a local resident.
Narrating tale of woes he says two transformers have broken down at Jhak Adda over eight days and four days back respectively and officers were informed about the same but to no avail. Panchayats are only for namesake as Sarpanchs and other members are not taken into confidence about the developmental work, says Tilak Raj Verma Panchayat member Jhak. He says Ghali, Nali, Bijli, Pani problems still continue and no betterment was made in the same.
Taking the MLA to task, Capt (retd) Chanda Singh says Dogra certificates on the basis of which Dogra youth of Jammu were getting priority in joining Army have been eliminated by the State Government and the local representative failed to get them restored despite the fact that people of Vijaypur Constituency have shown valor in Army and earned name in bravery.
The money of NREGA is utilized but to ignore the Panchayat members the plates of Border Development Fund (BDF) are installed for the same.
Kolpur village which is three kms away from the border is facing acute power crisis. The PDD has failed to install electric poles and transformer with the result they are unable to irrigate their fields says Arjun Singh a local farmer. Gurmeet Singh another villager while narrating the tale of woes says there is routine power cut of two hours after every two hours. The electric lines are in precarious manner. The MLA had promised recruitment of youth in Army during 2009 elections but nothing done later on. Only false and hollow promises were made to mislead the people in 2009 elections, he adds.
Gurmeet Singh of the area says selective people are given BPL. Sham Lal a poor villager Keso Pind who lives from hand to mouth says he was not considered for BPL. Ghalis are worst in the area says Tarseem Lal and Ramgarh road is in worst condition besides Bus Stand of Ramgarh is also in dilapidated condition.
The long standing demand of Chak Babral for construction of Degree College has not been considered despite promise by MLA says Sukhdev. The students of this border area have to travel 40 kilometres or more to Jammu or Samba for higher education.
The condition of road from Vijaypur to Arnia is also bad and in Mal Kalandrian which is only five kilometers from border, the paddy fields have dried up due to lack of irrigation facilities as there is no water in irrigation canal. The MLA has failed to do any thing in this regard.
People say that Degree College was promised at Ramgarh but not sanctioned. The condition of pond at Gurah Slathia is also worst. It has been developed by the MLA but later on no steps were taken to clean the weed and other herbs in it.
The people demand that contaminated water from the pond be drained out.
The Rajinderpora which is the birth place of Brig Rajinder Singh, a great Dogra hero has also not received the attention to the level it deserves. The pond here is also in bad condition as the weed in it has not been removed. The library in the area on the name of Brig Rajinder Singh is also closed as no one has been made incharge of the same, says Divakar Singh a social worker. The Pati road and Raya to Rajinder Pora road is also in bad condition, he adds.
The residents of Thandi Khoi Gujjar Mohalla have not road link says Rashid Ahmed.
However when contacted the Surjit Singh Slathia says that his Constituency has been a role model for other constituencies in development as during his stint of last five and half years many developmental schemes and projects were taken up in hand.
He says that all roads and link roads have been developed in the area and except those roads which are under GREF others have been constructed. He says transformers have been upgraded to 10 MVA at three places including Vijaypur and Nanpur. The development which could not take place in 50 years was done in five years of my stint, he says.
The drinking water problem in the border belt was also solved as due to increasing urea level in ground water it was not worth for drinking and with his initiative tap water was supplied to these areas, claims Slathia.
He says eight tube wells were constructed at Bari Brahmana, Abdal, Tolepur, Luhur area and now maximum villages get tap water supply. Under RAMSA Rs 70 lakh building was constructed for PHC at Sain Talab in his Constituency. Besides four buildings for sub centers were also constructed and out of them two were inaugurated, he adds.
He says power stations were upgraded from 3.5mva to 6.5mva at Gurah Slathia. Besides interlock tiles were first introduced by him in his Constituency and later same was followed by other constituencies. Abdal was made a model town at a cost of Rs 11 crore and 12 villages were linked to it, he adds.
Sonmika was made another model village and 12 villages were linked to it. Besides Gurah Slathia, Vijaypur and Nandpur were also made Model villages, he adds. At Ramgarh a community hall was constructed at a cost of Rs 1.10 core on 14 kanals of land. Besides at Afdal and Grota also community halls were constructed. The people during border firing take refuge in this community hall, he adds.
Slathia says that Rs 3.5 crore bridge was constructed at Pati to Sidya road and another bridge at a cost of Rs 1.20 crore was constructed at Badodi industrial area.
The MLA says that he took over the Baba Sidh Goria Shrines and Baba Chamliyal shrines and constituted Committees for these shrines. The Baba Chamliyal had Rs 483 cash balance with it and after taking over it has a balance of Rs 26 lakh while Baba Sidh Goria has 1.5 crore cash and 2.50 crore in property created by new committee in the shape of Sarais constructed by it.
Follow our WhatsApp channel