Suhail Bhat
DEVSAR: Devsar constituency in South Kashmir remained neglected on developmental front with people here having a mixed feeling towards the former Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) as they said despite getting only few years, he did better than what others did in their full tenure.
The constituency has 76,158 voters, including 39,702 male and 36,456 females, was represented by the People’s Democratic Party candidate, Sartaj Madani, since 2002. In 2014 Assembly elections, he was defeated by Mohammad Amin Bhat of Congress by a margin of 1511 votes. Amin polled 20162 votes and Madni 18651.
Located on Srinagar- Jammu National Highway, the constituency shares its border with the newly created Kulgam district. The constituency is facing multiple problems including broken roads, shabby or missing sewerage, insufficient portable water and an absence of adequate health and educational facilities. Several localities also complained about lack of connectivity to their areas.
Although some of the roads that connect the constituency with the National Highway have been macadamized, many interior localities lacked proper connectivity. The residents are annoyed with the quality of drinking water and health center services on the fringes are far from satisfactory.
The healthcare is suffering crisis with all the health centers grappling with the shortage of staff. At times, the dentists, pharmacist or a single nurse is available who treat patients with all medical problems.
The Trauma hospital at Qazigund is not fully functional which has enraged the residents. They rued that 20 years after the hospital was allotted at Qazigund area in 1997, the hospital grapples with the shortage of basic facilities and staff.
The hospital was announced to provide immediate medical attention to the victims of accidents on Qazigund-Banihal stretch of the Highway that is prone to accidents. Due to the lack of Trauma care on the road stretch, most of the victims die en route.
A member of the local Auqaf Committee said that the hospital lacked all necessary equipment like CT scan machine, a digital X-Ray machine, a Blood Bank, Ventilators for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) among other machinery. “The hospital is functioning without these facilities and a simple accident case which otherwise could have been treated in time can become fatal. The hospital lacks a Traumatologist and a Blood Bank,” he said.
The locals said that hospital has a small blood storage unit but for most of the cases they have to send people running to either district hospital Kulgam or district hospital Anantnag for blood.”Both the district hospitals are at least 10 to 15 Kilometres away from here, ” locals said. Over a period of time, this Emergency hospital has been reduced to a Community Health Centre where administration attends delivery cases.
The residents of Devsar village said that the health center of the village was upgraded to a Sub District Hospital six months ago. However, the health centre continues to function as Primary Health Center. “It has no infrastructure and human resource. No doctors are posted in the hospital; patients are checked by a compounder. There is no medical equipment like X-rays, no lab tests are conducted here,” Rehman said, adding even the new board of the SDH has been removed.
This hospital caters for thousands of people living in 25 villages in the constituency. The residents said that it would be a major relief for the residents of the area if the hospital is made functional properly. In addition, the Primary Health Centers at Manigam, Mondhol, Akhran and Nowpora are also facing the crisis.
A drive into the interiors of the constituency to the villages like Zodder, Malpora, Hablish, Chidham, Chirat, Sopat Tangpora and Kund presents a gloomy picture of the development.
Villagers said the roads and lanes are in shambles and when they drive toward these areas. “The roads have never been macadamized. We are living a life of hell. Politicians come during elections only for votes,” said the villagers. “We raised the issue with the former MLA but to no avail”, they added.
The residents from Devsar said they don’t get electricity even as per the schedule and the village areas mostly remain under darkness. “The Receiving Station has not been upgraded for years despite being the Tehsil headquarters. We have been repeatedly asking for installation of a new transformer at the receiving station but to no avail,” said Farooq Ahmad Ganaie, a local.
More than 13 years after a snowstorm devastated the Waltengo Nard hamlet of the constituency, the residents who were shattered by the disaster are waiting for reconstruction of their houses. In 2005, a snowstorm shrouded the entire neighborhood of Waltengo Nard hamlet leaving 158 entombed in their homes and several others injured. More than 200 houses were swept by the storm and at least, 1000 residents were displaced. The response to the natural disaster is woefully inadequate and the damaged houses were not reconstructed.
“Thirteen years have passed and only half the houses were rebuilt here, leaving a vast population homeless,” Mohammad Shafi Cheechi, 45, adding for last 13 years the residents are roaming like nomads. “The former MLA promised us speedy construction but it failed to pick up”, he said.
Around 8 kilometers away from Anantnag town at Vessu, nearly 200 dilapidated pre-fabricated huts meant for more than 350 migrant families are the stark reminder of their failed rehabilitation. Out of 512 proposed flats, only three flats were constructed.
The education sector is also facing several challenges with a majority of the schools grappling with inadequate staff and poor infrastructure. “Some schools are operating from the shabby building. At places students are forced to defecate in open due to lack of washrooms,” Abdul Majeed, a local said.
Students at the Kelam Degree College complained only Arts subjects are taught at the college, forcing the students of other streams to travel Khanabal Degree College.
People at Qazigund also complained lack of Degree College in their area as they have to travel nearby Kulgam or Anantnag district for higher education. “We do not have a college here and have to travel long distance for the education. Although the College has been allotted here but it has not been made functional,” a local said.
Residents alleged that benefits of the schemes for poor like MGNREGA and IAY were reaped by former MLA’s close workers. “Works that are to be done under MGNREGA were allotted to the former MLA’s workers, and the developmental works were done in their areas which vote for him. Others are neglected,” said the residents.
The residents of Kund demanded the construction of playground and widening of the road in their area. They also demanded to start SRTC minibus from Qazigund to Kund Ziyarat Shareef.
The relentless discharge of waste, siltation and encroachments has turned the famous Viasho rivulet into a cesspool. “The carrying capacity of the canal has declined sharply, causing frequent choking and inundation of nearby houses,” a local said.
Former MLA, Mohammad Amin Bhat, said he did not get enough time to put the assembly constituency on the developmental map. However, he said, he did a better job than the earlier MLAs who were holding the seat for the last two decades. “Just compare my performance of the last two years with the earlier lawmakers. What they could not achieve in last one decade, I have done in two years,” he said.
He listed a number of road projects that were constructed in his short term. Roads including Levdoora- Khoshipora- Ruzlukund via Vakaipora, Waterhaul -Kanchloo, Warel- Ninnag, Bonegam- Lamard, Natinal Yasoo- Akhran are some of the roads that were taken up by him. Besides, two bridges were completed and the tendering process for one bridge has been initiated.
Regarding PHC Devasar, he said that there was some dispute among the contractors which delayed the completion of buildings. “In addition, 3- NTPHC buildings are under construction”, he said.
On the issue of the Trauma hospital, Bhat said that he has sanctioned a Blood Bank for the hospital and installed a monitor in the operation theatre. Apart from that, he said, the number of doctors serving in the hospital has increased from 5 to 14. “The hospital has a deficiency of nearly 7-8 doctors which will be made available soon,” he said. He added the hospital is plagued with the issue as no one is taking interest in it. “There is no coordination between Revenue and Health departments,” he said, adding heating system is available but not used due to high operational cost.
In order to meet the drinking water shortage, the former MLA said that at least 8 new water supply schemes were constructed in the area. “Construction work is underway on another 10 schemes”, he said
He said his biggest achievement was Women’s Degree College for Qazigund.
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