Waseem Ahmad
KHANSAHIB: Although most of the inhabitants of Khansahib constituency praised their former representative for developing it, but, residents of several villages charged him with carrying out unfair and partial development works in their areas.”
The Assembly constituency of Khansahib falls under Srinagar Parliamentary constituency. The constituency is in central Kashmir’s Budgam district and has 160 villages and the villages fall in the CD blocks of Khag, Beerwah, Budgam and Khansahib.
The constituency has been a strong hold of former Independent MLA, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, who has been representing the constituency since 2002. In 2014, he defeated Saifudin Bhat of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with a margin of 1109 votes and retained the seat for the third consecutive time. Yaseen polled 26649 votes while Bhat polled 25540 votes.
The residents of the village Kandoora said that being one of the largest amongst the villages of Khansahib constituency, it faces a lot of problems due to dilapidated condition of link roads as it is full of potholes and is in need of macadamization.
They said the up-gradation of the High School to Higher Secondary level is a long pending demand of the villagers as the High school was established in 1971 but the demand was never fulfilled despite approaching the MLA several times.
Inhabitants in Krimshore village, the entry point to Khansahib area, fume at their representative blaming him for carrying out “partial” development works in the constituency.
“Our former MLA has been unfair and partial in sanctioning works to our area. Krimshore is centrally located surrounded by 30 villages like Bugroo, Parnew, Wagadh, Dreigam, Bogund, Choudhrybag, Nanzbal and Khasiporm and it should have the status of either a CD block or tehsil. All the bylanes and lanes in these villages are dilapidated,” Ghulam Mohammad Khan, a resident said.
He said Krimshore is the central market for many surrounding villages. It has a makeshift bus stop from which minibuses and autos ferry passengers to other villages. It has no parking area or bus yard.
The residents of several villages of the constituency blame the former MLA for “choosing” all the facilities which the Government provides to the people to his own village.
“The former MLA took everything, be it Degree College, Sub district hospital, Revenue office or bank to Khansahib. This unfair share of the development has pitched the people in the area against each other. The unfair development was done on political consideration and to polarize people,” said Mohammad Rafiq.
The residents of Kaitch Razgeer said that the main road towards Khansahib town is in dilapidated condition as it has not been macadamized due to which people are facing hardships.
They also said that a hospital in their area is under construction for last 10 years but lackadaisical approach of authorities is hampering the completion of the hospital. “It has been 10 years since the construction of the hospital was started but till date the hospital is still incomplete. It caters to several villages of the constituency and people are facing immense hardships in absence of the hospital,” a resident said.
He also said a bridge in the area is under construction for last 15 years. However, the work is moving at snail’s pace due to which the bridge has not been completed till date. “In its absence, people are facing problems. If someone falls ill, we have to carry the patient on shoulders,” he said. “A school in our area is without proper facilities and is in dire need of better infrastructure and more staff,” he added
The residents in remote villages of Zagoo, Kharin, Rangizabal have no health care facilities. The residents said they have to carry the patients on their shoulders because of the bad road connectivity to the area.
Other villagers of Hayatpora, Kathward and Nuner said they have no pure drinkable water. The lanes in these villages are dilapidated.
However, some residents, mostly elders, were all praise for their representative. They said that Khansahib would have been the most backward in development had it not been represented by Hakeem Yaseen.
They said it is only because of him that the village got a sub-district hospital, a revenue complex, a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, and a Government Degree College.
Inhabitants in Takiafarooq, Hariwanen, Zabkul, Dabipora, Raiyar, Arizal complained about lack of basic facilities like portable water, electricity, insufficient health facilities and dilapidated lanes. “We raised the issues with the former MLA but to no avail”, they said.
The youth of Raithen said that the area is without any playground and they have to play in the agriculture fields or open spaces that are often being closed by the owners.
The residents of main town of Khansahib complained that the SDH is without proper facilities and is not fully equipped to handle the patients. “Patients are often referred to other hospitals due to lack of proper facilities. It is not fully equipped with latest technology,” the residents said.
The ex-MLA Khansahib constituency, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen said that he did his best to develop the constituency and almost 85 percent of the constituency has been developed. “Despite in the opposition, I tried my best to serve the people and was able to develop the constituency. I cannot say the constituency is overall developed but about 85 percent is,” he said.
Yaseen rubbished the claims of being unfair or partial with respect to the development of the constituency. “Not a single village in my constituency has been ignored, every village has got equal share in development works,” he said.
The ex-MLA said that in the Health care sector, four New-Type Primary Health Centres (NTPHC) were sanctioned in the areas of Jawalapora, Rangzabadh, Taalpora and Haariwani and work on their infrastructure is going on.
“Similarly, the building SDH Krimshore was also constructed. Four ambulances were given to the hospitals under my CDF. Digital X-ray machines at the cost of Rs 22 lakhs and Rs 10 lakhs were given to the Sub-District hospital (SDH) Khansahib and another PHC,” Yaseen added.
Yaseen said that the issue of electricity was addressed in the constituency and almost all the villages were covered in terms of the electricity supply.
“Work on two receiving stations at Aerizal and Waetrihil were halted and they were made functional in the last tenure. More than 30 transformers were given to the different areas of the constituency. About Rs 6 crores were used to improve the HT and LT lines in the constituency,” he said
Hakeem said that the construction of two big bridges was completed at the cost of Rs 8 crores and Rs 9 crores at Traggar and Kangripora. Besides, construction of another bridge at Sail Arizal over Nallah Sukhnag is going on.
He said in education sector, four high schools at Goji Thaji, Bugru, Phreswar and Shanipora were constructed, three of which are near completion and work on one is going on. Besides, he said there was no college in the constituency in past and a college was constructed in Khansahib and all the streams of subjects were introduced in it. Besides, various schools were upgraded in all the villages of the constituency.
Yaseen said the road connectivity of the constituency was improved and almost all the roads were developed and macadamized. “Seven roads were repaired and developed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Macadamization of main as well as inner roads was done in the constituency. However, development of several roads is already sanctioned and the work was halted due to the bad weather,” he said.
He further said that a Girls hostel which was a long pending demand of the locals was sanctioned at the cost of Rs 3.50 crores and work on it is going on and a play ground in Kralpathri was also developed and work on it is also going. “There are several minor works that I have done in the previous tenure of the Government and it will take plenty of time to share,” he added.
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