Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 16: A delegation of the National Conference Party led by MLA Devender Singh Rana, called on Governor N N Vohra, here at the Raj Bhavvan today and submitted a memorandum.
Expressing concern over the alarming trend of intolerance, National Conference urged Governor for playing his crucial role and using his moral authority to impress upon the divisive politicians to shun the politics of hate and work towards building a harmonious society based on love, compassion and brotherhood.
“We deplore the attempts being made to divide the three distinct regions of the State on the basis of religion”, the delegation said.
The other members of the delegation included former ministers Surjeet Singh Slathia, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Ram Pal, MLA Kamal Arora, former legislators Kashmira Singh and Sheikh Bashir Ahmed besides Jugal Mahajan, Ch Haroon, Gurdeep Singh Sasan, Anil Dhar, Vijay Lochan, Abdul Gani Teli, Israr Khan and Dharamveer Singh Jamwal.
The delegation told the Governor that divisive elements were out with their sinister design to fragment the society into bits and pieces for furthering the political agenda of a particular political thought and sought his intervention in restraining such elements.
The memorandum elaborately dwelt upon the performance deficit of the PDP-BJP Government especially on developmental front, stating that the process set in motion by the Government led by Omar Abdullah has got retarded due to lack of direction, comprehension and vision of the present dispensation. The administrative apparatus is in a state of inertia that has impacted the governance at ground-zero adversely, it added.
The delegation referred to the much hyped central package, unfolded by the Prime Minister in Srinagar and described it as just an eyewash and jugglery of words. “We fail to understand how the number of houses damaged during September 2014 floods has been slashed down from 2.61 lakh to 67,611. Similarly, the number of affected families has also been downsized. Therefore, if the benefit of compensation reaches only to the revised number of beneficiaries, the rest of the sufferers will feel deprived and denied. We strongly plead for reaching out to the entire flood and rain hit victims” the delegation added.
On rehabilitation of PoK refugees in the Prime Minister’s package, the memorandum says that they have got just a meagre sum of Rs 2000 crore, which is far less than what the National Conference had been pleading for.
”Similarly, the chronic problems of the border dwellers, who remain target of incessant shelling from across the border, need to be addressed on immediate basis. Release of compensation to those who have suffered losses, construction of safety bunkers/shelters and allotment of five-marla plots to vulnerable segments, as promised from time to time, is needed to be pursued with the Centre”, the memorandum says, adding, ”Rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants has got a raw deal in the PM package. Except for creation of 3,000 jobs, there is nothing substantial with regard to their rehabilitation”.
The National Conference delegation viewed with concern the delay in three important policies related to employment, industrial promotion and educational outreach across the state and stressed the need for expediting it after consensus.
”We are perturbed over shelving of the popular schemes like SKWEPY across the state. There is crucial need for devising a mechanism to tackle the vexed unemployment problem by filling up the available vacancies on fast-track basis through designated recruitment agencies and exploring the possibilities of generating avenues for youth in the corporate sector”, the memorendum added.
On reservations, National Conference strongly pitched for pursuing the case with regard to reservation in promotions of the reserved categories in the backdrop of recent decision by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.
They also expressed concern over disengagement of National Youth Corp Volunteers and delays in releasing salaries to daily wagers, anganwari workers and others.
The National Conference protested over rising inflation, saying this has resulted in soaring prices of essentials. The housewives and poor segments of society taste the pinch of price rise severely.
The party also demanded the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar besides the pilgrim centre of Katra to be brought under the ambit of Smart Cities. “We also want Master Plans for Jammu to be formulated, put into public domain, discussed, adopted and implemented effectively”, they said.
“We want completion of the Artificial Tawi Lake Project in a time bound manner” the delegation said.
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