‘Militancy at all-time low, no stone pelting’
Quality of food, living conditions of CRPF men not good
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 25: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by veteran Congress leader Anand Sharma, which concluded its week-long tour to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on August 22, is understood to have raised serious concern over delay in execution of projects and development work and “red tapism” in the bureaucracy.
According to well placed sources, the Panel members were briefed about the delay and red tapism in the bureaucracy by some of the delegations which has been hampering the pace of development in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and many new schemes announced by the Union Government were getting affected.
They also reviewed pace of development works and projects especially those which are being executed under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes in meetings with senior officers of civil administration and noticed delay as well as red tapism which they are going to point out in their report.
“Both the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh are waiting for development that has been hampered by bureaucratisation of the process and a monopoly over releasing funds,” sources pointed out and voiced concern over this especially when both the UTs are directly under the control of the Central Government. While the UT of Jammu and Kashmir is without Legislative Assembly because of delay in the elections as process of delimitation of Assembly constituencies is yet to be completed, Ladakh hasn’t been granted Legislature.
The Committee was on the visit to J&K and Ladakh from August 16 to 22 and met with officials from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Kashmir, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Leh, Border Security Force (BSF) in Jammu, the administration of both UTs and also Chambers of Commerce and Industry of both Jammu and Kashmir, tourist and travel operators, hoteliers etc.
The Committee is, however, reported to have expressed satisfaction over decline in militancy which is at an all-time low in Kashmir and there have been no instances of stone pelting in the Valley, which had earlier become a regular affair. The members had also visited the CRPF camps in Srinagar and the border area of Makwal near Tawi in Jammu during their visit.
The sources said that Committee members were not happy to see the living conditions of the CRPF personnel and quality of the food being provided to them and noted that these should be improved at the earliest.
The Panel members also visited border areas and raised concern over the pathetic conditions of the roads leading to Border Out Posts.
“The Parliamentary Panel reportedly observed that in a tense situation, security forces have to mobilise troops in a short period of time, thus, the roads have to be improved,” the sources said.
In Ladakh, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs members was briefed about delay in releasing funds for development works which generally remains underutilised because of the delay, the sources further said.
With an aim to review the administration and development of the region and review the working conditions of Central Police Forces, the Parliamentary Panel visited the two UTs after two months when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top politicians of Jammu and Kashmir on June 24.
It was the first high-level interaction between the Central Government and political leaders from J&K after August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.
A number of Parliamentary Committees are on visit of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Public Accounts Committee had visited Kashmir and Ladakh last week while the Parliamentary Panel on Urban Development after visiting the Valley today reach Leh. The Parliamentary Panel on Commerce will reach Leh tomorrow. Some other Committees have also toured Kashmir.
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