Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 16: Terming it a great disrespect and humiliation to the duly elected members at the grass roots level, the Jammu and Kashmir District Development Councils (DDC) Forum has strongly condemned the Government for ‘meagre’ honorarium released by the Rural Development Department to the DDC members and has appealed the LG Manoj Sinha to relook into the matter.
In a statement issued today, Taranjit Singh Tony, convener of the J&K DDC Forum, said that it is utter mockery of the system that the SPO is getting Rs 18000 while the elected DDC member is being paid only Rs 15000. He said that soon after the release of the honorarium, the DDC members have received an unanticipated setback due to which they are in great shock.
Tony said, “I fought DDC election from 21 Panchayats out of 33 Panchayats of Suchetgarh constituency and for that matter of fact every DDC member fought election from 2/3 of Assembly Constituency jurisdiction.” He asserted that keeping this aspect in view which cannot be ignored under any circumstances, the honorarium of a DDC member should be settled as 2/3 of the salary received by an MLA.
The DDC Member lambasted the Rural Development Department for remaining unmoved by the directions of the then Lt Governor. He mentioned that earlier the Government came up with this same remuneration but after the strong protest lodged by the DDC members, the then Lt Governor assured to address their woes. Even the Prime Minister and Home Minister had assured us that the elected DDC members will get power at par with MLAs, he added. He resented the move by the Government for not fulfilling its commitment.
Tony said that it is really an irony that the former Lt Governor Murmu had promised the best salary besides vehicle and PSO but all that seems to have been washed away after the incumbent LG took over the charge. He appealed LG Manoj Sinha to relook into the issue and immediately call a meeting of DDC members to rectify the blatant discrepancy on this account.
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