JAMMU: Hitting out at the ruling PDP-BJP government in the State, Congress on Tuesday accused them of callousness in providing basic facilities like drinking water, unscheduled power cuts and proper ration to the people of Jammu region.“The pesky acute drinking water shortage is unprecedented, which speaks of callousness of the government towards residents. They seem to have been held to ransom by the insensitive, irresponsible and anti-people government. It is deliberately denying them basic facilities,” former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla said today while addressing public gathering at Bhour who had gathered to share their agony and pain due to worst ever water supply in the area.
Angry public while protesting against the Government, especially against the public representatives (MLAs/ MLCs) and Ministers from Jammu region said that they are enjoying cool breeze at Srinagar and alleged that the Ministers from Jammu are not available and there was no body to listen to their grievances these days. They also alleged that their elected representatives are not available to listen to their grievances. Not only the public but the industrialists are also facing works kind of power crisis here. For hours together, the forced shut down is being imposed on the consumers which are torturous during this peak scorching hot summer days. Even during night hours, there is no power for hours together and people are spending sleepless nights these days. The new Government has also stopped the tradition of summer and winter Secretariat at Jammu and Srinagar respectively to attend the public grievances. The Ministers from here are mostly on flying visits and are hardly available to the public. This has increased anger against them in Jammu region. The students are unable to prepare for the exams and coming entrance tests for the professional institutes due to power crisis. The industrial unit holders are also raising hue and cry but there is nobody to listen, they added. Prominent among those present on the occasion include Amrit Bali Sarpanch Bhour Camp, Jagmohan Sharma Naib Sarpanch, Bal Krishan, Rishab Bali, Panch Dr. Ramesh Sharma, Baldev Singh, Gurbachan Kour, Jai Ram Sharma, Master Khushi Ram, Harpal Singh, Kapoor Lal Ward President Bhour Camp and others.
The former Minister claimed the scenario in the rural areas was quite appalling. The residents of the Bhour Camp Ward 2 while protesting against the coalition Government told former Minister that main Tube well catering to the needs of drinking water in the area is defunct for the last 9 months and they are managing domestic affairs be it drinking water, water for cooking, washing clothes and most importantly taking bath with utmost hardships. Bhalla condemned the Govt to provide drinking water, adequate power supply and ration to the general public. The people of this area are facing acute shortage of water for the last more than nine month and concerned MLA and the concerned PHE staff failed to mitigate the sufferings of the people. He pointed out that unprecedented power and water crisis in the whole state in general and Jammu province in particular was result of the failure on the part of present government. He said that situation in Jammu province has virtually turned out of control due to severe shortage of drinking water and worst ever power crisis during scorching heat. Bhalla in presence of huge gathering telephonically put the matter before Chief Engineer and asked him to address the drinking water issue at the earliest as when the temperature is hovering near 45 degree Celsius and under such a time ignoring proper water supply and power supply is highly unjustified and inhumane. Taking cognizance of the issue and after the intervention of former Minister, Chief Engineer assured him that within week time the issue will be sorted out on priority.
Former Minister further added that the city has plunged into a major power and water crisis as the Power Development Department (PDD) and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department have been caught unprepared to deal with rising mercury. Leave aside scheduled electricity curtailment, unbridled unscheduled power cuts, especially during night hours, voltage fluctuations and frequent tripping of transmission lines have made the situation unbearable for the residents, while hundreds of tourists and Vaishno Devi pilgrims reaching Jammu are the worst sufferers.What is more disturbing for the people is that the electricity crisis has severely affected the water supply across Jammu, with the PHE Department giving excuse of erratic power supply for the same. Jammu city alone, having a population of around 15 lakh, has been facing the shortage of two million gallons of water daily. The state’s peak demand for power has grown by over 8 per cent from 2011 to 2015, but the department has failed to upgrade its infrastructure. Even the capacity of transmission lines has not been upgraded. Currently, Jammu has been facing the shortfall of nearly 350 MW against its total daily demand. To deal with the situation, the department has been enforcing scheduled power cuts from five hours in cities and towns to 10 hours in rural areas amid scorching heat, he added. He further said that transformers repaired in PDD workshops, mostly get damaged even within week, a fortnight or even a month. In some cases, they get damaged immediately after installation. Department takes one year warranty from the private firms for the repaired transformers, ensuring quality work but this rule is not for them in their own PDD workshops. They should also be made accountable to ensure quality work and not the substandard one, he added.
Bhalla expressed concern over the dilapidated condition of roads, lanes and drains, shortage of drinking water and prolonged cuts in the electric supply in the city and its surrounding areas. He sought to draw the attention of the Govt towards these problems of people. Expressing concern over non-availability of civic amenities to people, he asked the government to give priority to solving the problems of the common masses.Bhalla further said that State has immensely suffered due to vision-less policies and performance inertia of the divergent ideologies partners running coalition Govt in state. Bhalla said the people have right to know as to what happened to the promises made by the BJP for more than six decades to grant citizenship to the West Pakistan refugees, sealing the borders to check any sort of infiltration and crush the militancy by strengthening the security. Asserting that the State Government failed to provide basic amenities to the people Bhalla said it was unfortunate that people were being subjected to immense suffering by failing to provide them requisite succour to the deserving people. He said the state government has miserably failed to take up development works in the city and its surrounding areas.”The condition of roads, lanes and drains has gone bad to worst. He said adding that no development work has taken place for the past several months by any of the government department and the general public was facing great hardships for want of civic facilities. He sought to draw the attention of the Govt towards these problems of people.
Terming BJP as “mute spectator”, Bhalla said the party’s leaders have failed to represent the people for safeguarding their own interests. He alleged that BJP has been trying to concede on various matters against the interests of people while maintaining a completely different public posture to throw dust in the eyes of the people. Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said State Government issued notification during March this year through DC Jammu, inviting documents to be submitted along with application forms for all categories of DPs for claims. “The PRO and DC have been appointed as designated authorities for this purpose. It is strange that even after several months no additional staff has been deployed to verify the documents of the DPs at the designated offices”, he pointed out and demanded inclusion of left out families, ownership rights to DPs of 1947, issuance of ALC certificates to DPs and reservation for their wards. He described the coalition as a “hotchpotch combination of divergent forces” that are struggling to remain glued to power despite their inherent contradictions.“It is extremely pathetic that the previous state government proposed Rs 9,096 crore for 31,619 families of 1947 and 4,765 families of 1965 and 1971 i.e. Rs 25 lakh per family but NDA Government announced Rs 2000 crore that too is not exclusive for PoK DPs which is a cruel joke”, he maintained.
He said that the governance failures writ large in almost every field, adding to the miseries of each and every section of the society. The government has failed to ensure delivery at the basic levels like availability of ration, power, health, education sector & unemployment besides affected people and the farmers. The employees of different categories including teachers, daily wagers, casual and need based workers and other such categories of people are regularly seen on protests for their just and genuine demands. This kind of situation has disappointed every common man who is already facing the brunt as the prices of all essential commodities and items of daily use have increased manifold.
He highlighted the need for putting in place a system of issuing acknowledgements to applicants seeking services under the Act and installation of notice boards on the office premises of the departments concerned. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011, came into force with effect from August 10, 2011. The Act provides for delivery of public services to people within the specified time limit and relate to matters connected therewith and incidental thereto. He said that the governance failures writ large in almost every field, adding to the miseries of each and every section of the society. The Government has failed to ensure delivery at the basic levels like availability of ration, power, health, education sector & unemployment besides affected people and the farmers.
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