Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 6: Accusing the Central Govt of bias in its dealing with various regions of the erstwhile J&K State, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, Harsh Dev Singh said that while it appeared to be focused on Kashmir and Ladakh, the Jammu region continued to face apathy and differential treatment.
He said that the issues and concerns of the people of Jammu region had failed to receive due attention of the BJP led Government which was announcing sops and doles for valley and Ladakh. He said that sanctioning of two new Radio Stations for Uri and Kargil were the latest in the list of sops announced for the said two regions which had continued to receive Centre’s unmitigated attention post Article 370 abrogation.
Harsh Dev Singh was addressing public meetings in various villages of Block Basantgarh and Block Kulwanta during his two- day tour of the Ramnagar Constituency.
Alleging neglect of Jammu region even after the controversial special status was defanged, Singh pointed out that several teams of Union Ministers had visited Kashmir with attractive propositions and developmental packages without bothering to address the concerns of the people of Jammu. “Several announcements for establishment of professional colleges, skill development centers, augmentation of Health services besides launch of new developmental projects and centrally sponsored schemes were announced in Kashmir without even making a mention of Jammu region,” he lamented and added that even Ladakh had been conferred with ‘Tribal Area’ status besides its inclusion under ‘Smart city’ mission after declaring it as Union Territory thereby unfolding the Centre’s agenda of appeasement of Ladakh and Kashmir.
Expressing concern over the stalled developmental projects in the remote areas of Basantgarh, Singh called for early completion of Basantgarh-Khaned road which had been abandoned half way by the PMGSY Department and the concerned executive agency. He sought immediate payment of compensation to the farmers whose land had been acquired for construction of PMGSY roads but payments denied to them for 4-5 years. He called upon R&B Department to ensure early up gradation of Kulwanta – Basantgarh -Dudu road which had been inordinately delayed by several years despite availability of requisite grants.
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