BJP Govt misgovernance brings J&K on ventilator: Bhalla

Jammu: With no limit to power cuts a day, people in Jammu are finding it difficult to beat the heat during peak summers. The government, however, is in no mood to relax the power curtailment schedule despite angry protests almost on a daily basis.  This was observed by former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla while listening to grievances of people of Bahu Fort and Guru Nanak Nagar area on Sunday. Prominent among those present on the occasion include  DCC General Secretary Vijay Singh Chib, Block President Mandeep Singh, Diwan Chand,  Latish Sharma,  Sahil Shavotra,  Kulbushan Singh, Gurdeep Singh Kaka, Sanjay Gupta, Parveen Gupta,  Bansi Lal, Ashwani Sethi, Narinder Singh, Sham Sharma, Manoj Kumar, Pawan Kumar, and others. Alleging that the J&K Administration has failed to provide basic amenities to the people, former Minister said it was unfortunate that people were being subjected to load shedding of electricity for long hours. He said that rural areas were receiving erratic power supply and most of the time were facing numerous problems on account of low voltage thus forcing them to lead a miserable life. He further said the administration needs to ensure better coordination between different departments especially those providing essential services. Bhalla also expressed his grave concern over mounting problems of the common masses and said that due to its misgovernance, the incumbent regime has lost its credibility. He took Government to task for its failure to provide even basic commodities to the people in the rural areas what to say of unconnected and remote belts.

 Bhalla said Congress party is deeply concerned over the situation in J&K, which according to him is “sliding into total chaos”.The intense heatwave is leading to power shutdowns and tripping of the system, which in turn severely affecting water supply thus multiplying woes of the Jammuites, who are left with no option other than to curse the Government for the crisis. Raising passions through invoking feelings of patriotism has become a handy tool in the hands of BJP leaders to divert attention from their Governments’ failure on all fronts including dealing with external dangers,” he observed. Bhalla said that BJP made a lot of promises to the people of the country but none of them was fulfilled. Now they are acting as a mute spectator to their sufferings. During 2014 and 2019 general elections, BJP made tall claims of creating job and employment for the youths, however, the unemployment rate is increasing in the country”. He alleged that the Centre was not taking any “effective steps” to improve the economic situation of the country. He said that sections of society are facing difficulties and that the centre should take effective measures to improve the current situation. He said that the administration must come out of deep slumber and infuse responsiveness and an element of accountability in its machinery in order to mitigate the sufferings of people.

Bhalla maintained that authorities are not paying any attention to the burning problems of the common man. The people want development, employment opportunities, better infrastructure, and other basic requirements like adequate water and power supply. He hit out at the Centre and J&K  government alleging they had “failed” to reach out to the people to address their concerns. He also accused the BJP government of trying to create a wedge between different regions of J&K  for political mileage. He claimed the people have realized that they were “misled, betrayed and backstabbed by BJP  for the sake of coming into power”.The Congress leader said the people were suffering immensely in every respect due to the continuous shelling on borders and deteriorating law and order situation adding to the fear psychosis among the people.

 Former Minister accused BJP Govt of having failed to address the problems of the people of J&K and said that the miseries of the people of Jammu and Kashmir have increased manifolds after they cheated people of Jammu. He said that all the promises made to the people prior to the Parliament elections remained unfulfilled. Considerable time has passed but they have failed to fulfill any of the promises, be it the problems faced by the border residents, be it the problems faced by the farmers, be it the problems of refugees and Kashmiri Pandits, this government has done nothing to address those problems,” Bhalla said.    While attacking the NDA government at the center, Bhalla said that since the change of guard happened in New Delhi, the prices of essential commodities have increased manifold.”The prices of basic commodities have increased and it has become difficult for not only the poor but also the middle class to afford them. The ever increasing inflation is taking a toll on the common masses of this country,” he said. On the collapse of administrative apparatus with regard to development and ensuring utility services, Bhalla said that while various projects are starving for funds, the payments under MGNREGA remain unpaid. Similarly, the problems of daily rated workers and other segments of employees are yet to be sorted out. “The insensitive Government has failed in releasing salaries and wages to the employees and workforce”, he said. Asserting the commitment of Congress to regional and religious unity in Jammu and Kashmir, Bhalla said that the party cadre was prepared for any sacrifice to nurture and sustain this glorious legacy. Bhalla slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for “creating hysteria over discrimination for nearly six decades.” He said that when it came to reckoning, they “betrayed” the people soon after taking over the reins of the Government. He said that the “2014 euphoria is terribly missing with disillusionment growing among people due to policy paralysis of the BJP-partnered government which is struggling to put its act together after plunging the state into unprecedented political and administrative crisis.“

 The people of Jammu displayed faith in BJP while giving them a huge mandate from the Jammu region with the hope that their grievances will be taken note of and discrimination with Jammu will end. However, BJP after forming Govt sidelined issues related to Jammu, Bhalla said. Bhalla said that it is most unfortunate that the common people have no medium to raise their voices for their basic necessities. The people have to come on roads to express their anger and seek redressal of their genuine grievances. He said that there is a total collapse of administration and the present government is not working in the interests of the poor and marginalized sections of the society. The former Minister said Government has totally lost its credibility due to its misgovernance, which led to the failure of government on all the fronts. “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 to day problems”, he said