So is need for reviewing status of existing District Administrative Units & only then take to Reorganisation of Divisions in UT of J&K
DAYA SAGAR
National Conference Manifesto for 2024 J&K UT Legislative Assembly elections also mentioned Reorganisation of Divisions and going by that since National Conference has now formed Government with Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister it could be expected that the government ( true to manifesto) maybe in the process of increasing the Administrative Divisions in the UT of J&K to more than the present two divisions ( Kashmir Division & Jammu Division) . It would be worthwhile to mention the text as is there on page-40 of election manifesto which reads . The intentions of the Omar Government could surely be taken as pious worth benefitting particularly the distant & backward areas &people w.r.t to administrative & legislative affinities . It will not be an unfair statement in case anyone professes that the people and areas of erstwhile districts of J&K State of pre 1947 days like that of Baramulla, Reasi, Kathua, Udhampur, Poonch (jagir administered from Jammu) , Ladakh or in other words we can say erstwhile districts of pre 1978 days like that of Baramulla, Kathua, Udhampur , Doda , Rajouri, Poonch , Ladakh etc even after independence have not been administratively fairly treated all these years as regards locating centers of local community development/ district administration.
To be brief though creation of more Divisions would be a welcome step but before that there is utmost need for reorganization of district administrative units (District ) so that Divisions are now fairly compiled /created and not as new districts were created in 1979 & 2006-07. In case More divisions are created on the basis of the District administrative units as they exist on date there is every chance of the concerned committee / commission getting miscarried with the illusion that the irrational reorganizations of Districts done in 1979 & 2006-07 would make as a result of which the Two existing Divisions have 10 districts each whereas before 1979 the areas (15948 sq km)under present Kashmir Division had only 3 districts and the areas ( 26,293 sq km ) under present Jammu Division had 6 districts.
The politicians have been carrying on their “business” keeping the innocent masses of J&K trapped in the web of rivalries of regional or’ 26th Oct 1947 accession’ related controversies and at occasions also making people enter into religion based controversies creating some ideological ravines even amongst the locals of same region. We often find many people reasoning the shortfalls in the economic & infrastructural development as well as representation in Legislature & in Executive / Administration , particularly that of Jammu region, being there for the reasons of religious demography ( J&K being a Muslim majority state ) but that is not logically true since even the areas outside Kashmir Valley that have reasonably large muslim population have remained devoid of fair constitutional, administrative and community development units.
A serious post independence onslaught on the people of the then Districts of Baramulla, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda , Rajouri, Poonch , Jammu of the erstwhile State of J&K was inflicted when they were disproportionately denied nearness to District Administrative Units (local administration) (districts ) in 1979 the way 3 new districts ( Badgam, Pulwama, Kupwara) were created in Kashmir valley under SRO 306 of 6/6/1979 increasing districts in Kashmir valley from 3 ( Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla ) to 6 (Srinagar, Badgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara)but keeping the pre 1979 number (6)unchanged in Jammu Region ( Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch) and increasing in Ladakh districts from 1 to 2 ( Leh, Kargil) . Another onslaught was made in 2007 in total defiance of even the recommendations of Wazir Commission (WC) which in 1984 recommended for increasing the Districts in Jammu Region from 6 to 9 and in Kashmir Region from 6 to 7 ( one new in Baramulla district ) but the recommendations were not implemented ( though still were not as per demands of neglected areas ) and instead through SRO 185 of 22 May 2007 Kashmir region was given 300 % more than the districts recommended in 1984by Wazir Commission increasing the Districts from 6 ( Srinagar, Badgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kupwara) to 10 (Srinagar, Ganderbal, Badgam, Anantnag,Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Baramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara and Jammu region was given only 33 % more than what WC had recommended(1984)there by just increasing districts from 6 ( Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Rajouri, Poonch) to 10 only ( ( Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch) where as by method of proportions Districts in Jammu Region should have been increased to15 to 16 Districts and Baramulla & Kupwara needed to be split into atleast 4 districts instead of 3.
Since 2007 there have been repeated demands and requests for reorganizing the district administrative units in J&K , particularly Kathua, Udhampur ,Reasi, Doda,, Kishtwar, Ramban, Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla, Bondipora, Kupwara to correct the faulty reoganisations done in 1979 and 2007. The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 (Act No. IX of 1989) was amended to replace “District Planning and Development Board” by The District Development Council – DDC ( which of course is a welcome amendment ) but it has been very unfair at the same time so unfairly / strangely Section-45A -(iii) says that elected members of every District Development Council shall be fourteen in number. By that standard may it be Shopian District that had only one tehsil in 2007 or may it be Rajouri District that had 7 Tehsils in 2007 or Jammu or Baramulla or Kathua or Udhampur or Kupwara all will have 14 members each. Continued
(The writer is a Sr Journalist & a known analyst of J&K affairs)