BJP Govt deprived Jammu people of basic amenities: Bhalla

02/12/2019

Jammu, Dec 1: Former Minister and senior Congress leader, Raman Bhalla on Sunday said that there is strong resentment among people of Jammu region towards BJP which has miserably failed to address even basic issues of the people of the area. This was stated by Bhalla while addressing Block meeting of Gandhi Nagar constituency at Preet Nagar Digiana organized by Corporator Dawarka Choudhary. The meeting deliberated upon various day to day problems being faced by the public in the absence of any elected Govt said that the onus is on the BJP which got huge mandate in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections as well as the current Lok Sabha elections besides being the ruling party at the Centre and State being under direct Central rule. Prominent among those present on the occasion include Distt Jammu Urban President Vikram Malhotra, Dr Ramakant Khajuria, Vijay Singh Chib, Block President Mandeep Singh, Corp. Bhanu Mahajan, Corp. Pritam Singh, Corp. Shobat Ali, Corp. Gourav Chopra, Kulbushan Sharma, Balwinder Singh beside others.
While addressing a public meeting Bhalla said that majority of people maintained that no new developments but only facelifts of previous works were done in the area. "BJP was in power at the Centre and in the erstwhile J&K State too, it was easy for the party to forward issues of common masses through their Government in the State to the Union Ministry concerned, for mitigating the sufferings of people but they took them casually," Bhalla said. He pointed out that there was total chaos and confusion among people as BJP leadership has failed to remove peoples' apprehensions. "On the one hand, there is complete uncertainty in J&K, while on the other hand people are confronting with failure of the administration to solve day today problems", he said, adding that most parts of the city are facing scarcity of potable water and power and dilapidated condition of lanes.
"Even after one year since Panchayat elections, the development activities in rural areas have come to a standstill due to non-availability of funds. Panchayats are virtually defunct and rural populace is crying for development," Bhalla said. He demanded that all Deputy Commi-ssioners must be directed to visit the blocks under their jurisdictions to ensure better coordination between Government departments and elected Panchayat members. He also demanded to increase honorarium of elected Panchs and Sarpanchs and clear Rs 700 crore liabilities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
He demanded that Government should now constitute District Develop-ment Planning Boards. "People in J&K will only get fully empowered when planning boards are constituted as it holds great significance for PRIs", Bhalla said. He alleged that ‘Back to Village Progr-amme' of the Union Government is turning merely flop show as the works projected by different Panchayats and local villagers across the Jammu and Kashmir during Ist phase of ‘Back to Village Programme' in June this year could not be implemented till date.Big banners everywhere and advertisements in newspapers and also on electronic channels are appearing for the last few days. Majority of the officials from District Admini-stration, Sub Divisions/ Tehsils, RDD, Information and various other departments have been engaged in the campaign, but the outcome of this campaign is zero on the ground.
Panchayats are not being taken into confidence or involved in the programme. With which face again the officers would go to the villagers for the second phase of the campaign, he asked. He further alleged that since the formation of Panchayats in the Jammu and Kashmir, no funds were released in favour of Panchayats for development during last one year, while Govern-ment functionaries making hollow claims on funds, thus misleading the public. Even the Lt Governor is being mislead over the success of this campaign. He said BDC elections are over, but nobody knows about the office of the chairman, his functions/ powers and salary etc.

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