Srinagar: Terming the PR blitz of the J&K administration, projecting last 2 years as high time of development as hogwash, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the LG administration for trying to weave a narrative of lies while unsuccessfully trying to deflect attention from its anti people policies.
PDP spokesman in a statement said that development is the last priority of Delhi’s dispensation in J&K and that administration has only been busy executing RSS’s plans aimed at disempowering & disenfranchising the people of J&K, changing its Muslim majority character by engineering demographic change and facilitating organized loot of the natural resources at the hands of non state subjects.
The urgency with which the administration has gone for illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional lawmaking like that of domicile and the recent one of designating areas as “strategic” is reflective of its only priority in Jammu & Kashmir, the spokesman said.
“They would always demonize the political representatives, state government and local professionals of J&K as the roadblock in development that the union government wanted to usher in, but the last 2 years of New Delhi’s direct rule have completely exposed their lies” he said.
“No amount of self trumpeting can hide the abject failure of this dispensation on the developmental front. In fact, Jammu & Kashmir is at its worst”, he added.
According to the spokesman, a cursory look at the status of various projects under PMDP reveals the rot and that components that were to be executed by various central agencies have witnessed an unending delay, some haven’t even taken off. “Status of various tourism projects across J&K and that of AIIMS in both the divisions are glaring examples of this failure. The lifeline and the only road connecting Kashmir with the rest of the world –Jammu Srinagar National Highway- remains in shambles crying for completion and is in the worst ever condition. The status of Ring Road projects of Jammu & Srinagar cities is a telling commentary of this dispensation has fared on developmental front,” said the spokesman.
According to him, with J&K under direct rule of New Delhi for years now, it begs a question as to what happened to the promises of completing Jammu-Baramulla rail link decades after it was inaugurated.
He added that the promises of railway line to Poonch and Kupwara turned out to be gimmick. Tunnels connecting Kashmir with Ladakh and Chenab valley remain a distant dream years after being promised. “With transmission line projects far from completion people continue to live with power woes,” he added.
“The core local industries of handicrafts, tourism, agriculture have gone bust creating a never before despair and despondency. All methods are being handled through strong arm methods of security agencies and police”, said the spokesman.
According to the PDP spokesman, leaving the big ticket infra projects aside, the worsening situation with regard to Covid 19 lays bare the non-serious and incompetent handling of things by the administration leading us into a crisis where life saving drugs and machinery are not available as required”, he added.
On the assertion of the Lt Governor that people of J&K are afraid of expressing themselves due to fear, the spokesman asked LG to shed light on what exactly are the people afraid of. “What are they afraid of? Arrests, persecution, PSA, UAPA, Security forces breathing down their necks or militants who according to the government itself are no more than a few scores and “on the run”, he asked.
