Irfan Tramboo
Pulwama, Sept 18: During the Phase-I polling of the Assembly elections, residents in Pulwama and several other areas highlighted a “lack of effective Governance” that they said has persisted over the past several years in J&K.
From Naira in Pulwama to Murran in Tral, and Rajpora, Excelsior spoke to voters who were voting for the first time in a decade, electing their representatives for the Legislative Assembly.
Many of these voters, both men and women, expressed that they had faced hardships over the years in various areas, including inflated electricity bills, lack of access to drinking water, and rising unemployment. They stressed that reaching out to officials had been difficult.
Sixty-year-old Ghulam Muhammad Lone from Pulwama said the people want an elected Government that could work for their betterment. He noted that the current officers in charge are “unaware of the ground realities.”
“We want a civil Government that will listen to our issues and ensure their resolution. At least with an elected candidate, it would be someone we know. The officers don’t understand the people’s struggles,” he said.
Another voter from the Naira area of Pulwama-where PDP’s Waheed Para and NC’s Khalil Ahmad Bandh are among the main contestants-65-year-old Abdul Rashid, emphasized: “We are receiving huge electricity bills, and no one is addressing it. We want our representatives to voice our concerns and bring us much-needed relief.”
Abdul Hameed Darzi, a voter from Rajpora, raised the issue of poverty, stating that those in power are aware of the people’s hardships, but he questioned, “Who is speaking about it in a way that will lead to action? We seek relief from the issues we’ve been enduring.”
In the remote area of Bhatnoor in Tral, residents also expressed their frustration, noting that over the last several years, they had seen no development or effort to provide basic necessities. They also stressed the importance of having an elected Government.
One voter from Bhatnoor, Muhammad Afzal Dar, said that for the past eight years, the area has seen no progress. “We’ve been trying to reach out to officials, but they rarely listen. Now we are hopeful that things will change in our favor,” he added.
Seventy-year-old Muhammad Akbar Lone, a voter from Murran, said, “Nobody listens to us, even as we face daily challenges. Not a single officer is addressing our concerns. When we have our Assembly, our issues will be resolved. For years, people have suffered without a voice.”
In Tral town, first-time voter Raja Manzoor also emphasized the need for an elected Government for the progress and development of Jammu & Kashmir.
“It’s unfortunate that for the past 10 years, we didn’t have a Government. Now, we are fortunate to finally cast our votes and contribute to Government formation. The youth are voting to address unemployment and the issue of reservations, which have created difficulties for open merit students.”
Another voter from Bhatnoor, Ghulam Mohammad Dar, said that people want someone who will understand their struggles, noting that they had been suffering since the PDP Government.
“We seek development and want someone to listen to us. We are laborers, and no one has reached out to us. We need someone to feel our pain. Having a government is more necessary now than ever,” he added.
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