JAMMU : The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council today witnessed uproarious scenes as the coalition partners, NC and Congress entered into a verbal duel with the state Minister for Social Welfare over the functioning of State Commission for Backward Classes.
NC legislator Javed Ahmad Rana while raising the issue of some of the villages in Rajouri district, which have still not been provided with the basic amenities like road connectivity, power supply and schools, said that even after repeated submissions made by him to the Commission, nothing has been done to include these areas into the backward category.
“Since last ten years we have been writing to include these villages in the Resident of Backward Area (RAB) category, but nothing has been done. What is the Commission doing,” Rana asked
The minister Sakina Itoo replied that randomly any area cannot be declared as backward as there are certain norms involved in this regard.
She said that if everyone will demand for including his area into the reserve category, the whole state will turn into a backward area, adding that just a representation from a legislator was not enough to declare the area as backward.
This instigated Rana, who said that the Commission did not pay attention to the representations made by people of these villages and neither was it listening to a legislator.
Chairman Amrit Malhotra intervened, but it had no effect on Rana, who walked towards the well alleging that the Commission was not working properly and threatened to stage a walkout from the House.
Congress legislators Ravinder Kumar Sharma and Jehangir Hussain Mir, meanwhile, endorsed Rana’s views.
NC MLAs Khalid Najeeb Shurawardy and Sheikh Ghulam Rasool also raised their voice against the functioning of the Commission, with the later alleging that more than 1,000 applications were pending with it.
At this, Itoo said that the Commission was an autonomous body and the decisions made by it was based on the findings of the District Development Commissioner.
The minister also informed that the Commission has received representations from villages Sangoite, Nakamanzhori lower, Chhtral, Batadusrian and Bunola and added that requisite information from Deputy Commissioner concerned has been sought by the Commission.
She said as soon as the information was received, the cases of these villages shall be accorded consideration. (AGENCIES)
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