Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 3: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that the entire Kathua belt will benefit with the sanction of the proposed reservation for people living along the International Border (IB), on the same lines as available for those living in the areas adjoining the Actual Line of Control (ALC).
This, he said, will address a long pending demand of over 3 lakh population living in over 300 villages, who had been victim of discrimination by the earlier Governments.
It was a strange anomaly, said Dr Jitendra Singh, that the then ruling parties had passed an order based on purely vote bank considerations, whereby reservation was provided to one part of the border called the ALC / LoC, while blatantly ignoring the people living on the other part of the border, called the International Border (IB).
This was also a Constitutional and Legislative anomaly, he said, and expressed satisfaction that the Governor’s regime had agreed to the suggestion to include people living along the IB also in the same reservation category and thus end the discrimination. The ensuing order will offer huge relief, particularly for admissions to higher education institutions and Government jobs, he added.
Lauding the Modi Government for a series of path-breaking decisions to address the problems of the people living along the border areas, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to the decision of building over 14,000 individual bunkers and over 1400 community bunkers as well as Seema Bhawans. In addition, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in his recent visit to Jammu, announced the raising of five Armed Battalions with 60 percent reservation for border residents, besides hiking the compensation amount and cattle insurance.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the task of building most upgraded, three-in-one, Sulabh Shauchalayas along the border near Hira Nagar and other areas. He said, the most significant feature of this exercise is that the construction of these toilets is being funded purely through voluntary contributions from different sources and nearly 800 such toilets are already complete. These toilets, he said, are being raised for individual households and will be available for use throughout the year, regardless of whether there is border firing or not.
Meanwhile, a delegation of MES Engineers, led by former Rajya Sabha MP, Ambeth Rajan met Dr Jitendra Singh today and requested him for intervention by Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to expedite their pending cases of promotion.
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