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 Commissioners 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 Development 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 Programme’ 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 Administration, 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 Government 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.  Seeking intervention of Lt Governor, GC Murmu, Bhalla claimed that people were not happy with the working style of J&K machinery. The public issues have remained unaddressed. It seems Govt has no road map for the empowerment of the PRIs in the Jammu and Kashmir.  

One year has lapsed after completion of election of ULB’s but but no visible change has been witnessed on ground.   All the councilors of JMC irrespective of political affiliations are facing problem due to shortage of funds for developmental activities, he said. Neither Govt  of India nor LG   is serious about the release of funds in case Jammu Municipal Corporation. This is glaring example of discrimination with the people of Jammu.    JMC always talk of clean Jammu and green Jammu. How the clean Jammu is possible without sufficient strength of SKC’s. JMC failed to provide additional SKC’s to each ward of JMC. Plantation drive was conducted by JMC which was not up to the expectation of people of Jammu.   All the facilities such as street lights LED Blubs, dustbin, grating etc should be provided uniformly to all the councillors, Bhalla added. While people are still waiting for their concerns of basic needs such as jobs, housing, power, transport and water supply to be addressed, the government is using public money on events and celebrations,” he added.  He said lack of direction and political will have compounded the perception of political uncertainty in the state whereas the government should have tried to provide a hope of inclusive development, reconciliation and peace.

 Malhotra speaking on the occasion slammed utter failure of BJP  which had the mandate of Jammu region since 2014 to carry forward the projects initiated by the previous Govt both at State and Centre and to upgrade the infrastructure and augment various supply schemes, have resulted into total mess and several projects either standstill or going on snail’s paces, causing great loss to Jammu region and adding hardships to the people on various fronts. Former Malhotra criticised the Government for ignoring common masses in the State and alleged that the present regime has totally lost its credibility due to its mis-governance and failure on all fronts. He regretted that people of the Jammu region were back stabbed by BJP leadership as the party has brazenly abandoned its core agenda and adopted indifferent approach towards problems of the masses. On the local issues of Jammu district, Malhotra regretted that ‘it is facing total neglect   with not even a single new work taken up for execution during BJP rule. 

Corporator Dawarka Choudhary blamed BJP for betraying the people of Jammu on the issue of statehood and misleading the people on various emotive issues. He asserted that BJP Government has betrayed people of Jammu by reducing status of a state to union territory and Govt is also not coming clear on many issues. Choudhary said that only Congress is a secular party and never believes in caste, creed and colour. He claimed that it is only Congress which can keep the whole J&K united.  He said that it is most unfortunate that the common people have no medium to raise their voice for their basic necessities due to the neglect of the BJP representatives. The people have to come on roads to express their anger and seek redressal of their genuine grievances.