Mir Iqbal
Shopian constituency that borders with Poonch on one side and Pulwama on the other side has been neglected on developmental front with major projects like up-gradation of the District Hospital, construction of drinking water supply schemes, up-gradation of intra-district roads, construction of Mini Secretariat and Fruit Mandi that were taken up by Government few year back are still incomplete with slow pace of work.
The constituency is represented by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Abdul Razzak Wagay and the party has replaced him for the forthcoming Assembly elections and they are fielding Advocate Mohammad Yusuf Bhat.
Inhabitants in general blame casual attitude of the representatives of the constituency responsible for the lack of development here. “Government has not only left important projects at the mercy of the contractors, but also affected our major source of economy by patronizing the dealers of sub-standard sprays, pesticides and fertilizers for their vested interests,” said Sajad Ahmad of Balapora village in the outskirts of Shopian town.
Ahmad said they have been complaining to higher authorities about non-availability of health care facilities, dilapidated condition of roads, contaminated water supply and corruption in Government offices, but all their pleas fell to their deaf ears.
The area was carved out as separate district from Pulwama in year 2007 but health services in the area remain almost unchanged. “Nothing special was introduced in the Health sector during these years to improve quality of treatment to the patients in the DH Shopian,” said 35-year-old Irfan Mir of Bonagam, Shopian.
“The patient flow is increasing with every passing day and there is scarcity of doctors, lack of infrastructure and advanced medical equipments,” said Mir.
A doctor, at DH Shopian, said only six doctors are posted in the hospital to take care of hundreds of patients every day. “It affects the quality treatment to patients”, he adds.
The doctor said that the authorities should at least complete a portion of the new hospital building to avoid inconveniences to the patients due to space shortage. He said keeping in view the patient flow, the hospital administration has written many times to the higher authorities for deploying at least 20 doctors, but nothing has happened.
Official at Deputy Administration, Shopian, said that the work on new hospital building commenced in May 2009 at the project cost of Rs 23.65 crore. “So far only Rs 5.55 crore has been spent for the construction”, they said.
“The pace of the construction is so slow that it will not be completed before 2025,” Mohammad Yousuf Lone, contractor of the building said. He said corruption and nepotism has marred the health care system here.
The pace of work on Mini Secretariat is very slow here and many administrative departments in the district are still functioning from the rented accommodations at different locations and people face immense hardship due to space constraints and lack of other essential facilities in the offices.
An official said work on Mini-Secretariat was delayed due to the non-availability of land in the town and paucity of funds. “The project was handed over to Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) and was to be completed at an estimated amount of Rs 36.88 crores,” he said, “but so far not a single block was completed.”
Even after laying foundation stones of scores of water supply schemes for more than 50 villages in the constituency, the Government has failed to provide pure, potable drinking water to several villages as many projects are incomplete due to Government apathy.
Locals of Zawoora, Balapora, Shirmal, Wathoo, Nadpora, Manloo, Bathipora and other dozens of villages are supplied contaminated drinking water through taps as the water filtration plant constructed at Nagbal-Zawoora is lying defunct.
People also alleged that some of the water supply schemes commissioned by Government recently don’t provide pure water to the people.
They said the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department has laid water pipes into the different canals and supply the same water to households without any filtration.
Officials said water supply to Palpora, Gagren and Shopian has been started, but admitted that water supply scheme of Pinjoora, Arhama and Reban was still incomplete and the work on them was going on at slow pace due to which dozens of villages are forced to drink contaminated water.
Locals alleged that hundreds of people in the constituency are suffering from water borne diseases like Cholera and Hepatitis-A.
Some major roads like Shirmal to Zawoora road via Balapora, Shopian to Rawalpora road via Narwaw, Khudpora to Memender road and Kachdoora to Pinjoora via Habdipora of the constituency are in dilapidated condition. Locals said that the road is in shambles and there are pot-holes everywhere due to which frequent accidents take place here.
They lambasted the Government for making no efforts for macadamization, widening and building some important bridges to connect disconnected hamlets and villages with district headquarter.
Farmers complained that fruit crop worth crores of rupees is damaged due to the dust blown from bumpy and dusty roads. The dust blown of bumpy roads has also become a major reason for some diseases in the constituency.
The residents said that dozens of Centrally as well as State sponsored schemes have not been implement here. They blame the politicians for making the process complicated for availing the benefits of such schemes. They said corruption is rampant and only those people who have political patronage were benefitted out of most of the schemes.
They alleged that under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) deserving people were not provided shelter and instead the benefit was given to the people who have close contacts with ruling party.
People also alleged that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) benefitted only influential persons- particularly contractors and political workers. They also accused the Government for misusing funds meant for developing infrastructure in education sector.
“Influential contractors managed to construct even half a dozen building for schools at many places, where as hundreds of newly opened schools are running in rented buildings,” said Abdul Khaliq, a former teacher.
Officials at DC office said that due to Government’s indifference, more than 15 vital projects sent to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) are waiting approval for past three years.
However, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member and MLA Shopian, Abdul Razzak Wagay told Excelsior that the Government has neglected this constituency.
“Shopian is the worst affected constituency for past five years. I have spent about Rs 80 lakhs out of total 150 lakhs from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) on purchasing of electricity transformers, wires and electric poles for dozens of villages,” Wagay said.
“There was power crisis in many villages and I have spend Rs 80 lacs on purchasing of 25 new power transformers, electric poles and wires from my CDF,” Wagay said. He admitted that no proper work was carried out in his constituency and most important projects are incomplete due to Government apathy.
The constituency is represented by the PDP MLA Abdul Razzak Wagay. He defeated his rival NC candidate Mohammad Shafi by over 2000 votes. Wagay got 8006 votes while Shafi got 5208 votes.
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