Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, MAy, 19
Concluding his 3 days tour of remote and far flung villages of Kulwanta Block of Ramnagar constituency today, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh accused the govt of criminal negligence in addressing even the basic problems of the people inhabiting such areas. He said that people were seething with rage not only against the erstwhile BJP-PDP govt but were also accusing the Governor’s administration of depriving them of their legitimate dues in terms of development with hardly any signs of developmental activity discernible in such remote areas, the local administration too seemed to have turned a blind eye towards the burning problems faced by the people.
In Sia Merri, Chattraira and Kancha villages, the people were deprived of ration for the last 4-5 months on the bizarre plea that the road was blocked due to landslides and the manual carriage of ration involved high costs for which the deptt did not have any provision. Not only were the people deprived of ration facility but several poor and deserving families had been arbitrarily removed from the BPL category by the CAPD deptt which had created huge resentment in the area. He sought high level enquiry into the ration scam under the jurisdiction of TSO Majouri against whom repeated complaints of pilferage and ration theft had been disregarded in the past. Mr. Singh regretted the non payment of claims of 80% of rural populace under IHHL scheme for construction of individual house hold latrines under the Swachh Bharat Mission. He strongly condemned the Rural Development deptt for failing to clear the wages and work done liabilities of Job card holders and poor labourers under MGNREGA which were pending in almost all the villages for the last 2-3 years. He lambasted the Social Welfare deptt for inordinate delay in the payment of pensions of eligible beneficiaries besides unilateral exclusion of several old aged, widows and handicapped persons from the lists of beneficiaries. He expressed concern over acute staff shortage in various remote areas schools from where the teachers had been attached in cities and towns on extraneous considerations. Similar was the fate of wealth institutions with none to address the most pressing issues of the aggrieved rural populace, he said. He further accused the PMGSY deptt of conferring with and allowing a private company to dig up the newly constructed Lehar-Joffer road for laying Jio network by using heavy machinery which had completely damaged the road and resulted to public outrage.
Asserting that there was hardly any sign of governance in such far flung and difficult areas , Mr. Singh cautioned the govt of dire consequences and an indefinite agitation in case the public grievances were not addressed at the earliest. With Advisors to Governor having absolutely no connect with the public, the local officers were acting as per their whims and fancies without any concern for public issues.
