JAMMU: Hailing the recent verdict of the J and K High Court for time bound Local Bodies polls in the State to be concluded within a period of six months, Harsh Dev Singh, Chairman JKNPP and former Minister, said that it was breather for the civic bodies which were not duly being ignored in terms of development but were also deprived of the benefits of democratic decentralisation as envisaged under law.
Flaying the dilly-dally tactics of the State Government, he said that with the tentative election schedule for urban and rural local bodies having already been announced by the Governor and all preparations having been made by the Election Department it was expected that the incumbent government would not create obstacles or obstructions in the process.
He said that not only was the tentative schedule for the said polls announced by the Governor but the much needed amendment for use of electronic voting machines in places of ballot papers in the local bodies polls had also been effected by the Governor through his ordinance making power.
Pointing that there were unconfirmed reports of the BJP-PDP contemplating appeal before the High Court for postponement of such elections, Singh said that any such proposition was fraught with dangerous consequences and would be fought tooth and nail in view of elections having been repeatedly deferred for political reasons alone.
Emphasizing the urgency of early elections to local bodies, Harsh said that the J and K had already lost several hundreds of crores due to its reluctance to hold the municipal polls. He regretted that state had been deprived of thousands of crores of rupees for development of Municipal areas which has been withheld by the Central Government during the last six years due to the failure of the State Government to constitute the elected municipal bodies.
Lamenting the huge loss to the State under 13th Finance Commission, Harsh pointed out that the 14th Finance Commission had also proposed Rs. 4,161 crore for the state which included 3,117.36 crore for Rural Local Bodies and Rs. 1,044.51 crore for Urban Local Bodies with a precondition that funds would be released only if elected local bodies were constituted as a measure of democratic decentralisation.
He said that the 14th Finance Commission had provided a grant of Rs. 125.30 crore in the first instance for 2015-16 which however could not be availed due to non holding of Municipal bodies during 2015-16.
He deplored that the lackadaisical approach of the government and the dirty politics played by coalition partners by postponing elections for political reasons was depriving the general masses and prospective beneficiaries of the benefits envisaged for them under various GOI schemes.
He said that non holding of immediate elections would further deprive the state of ‘Performance Grant’ of Rs. 607 crore which has been assured by the 14th Finance Commission as additional grant in case the State fulfills the benchmarks stipulated by it.
Expressing serious concern over frequent postponements of elections, the Ex-Education Minister appealed to the State Governor who is constitutional head of the State to intervene so as to check further violations of legal provisions and of High Court orders and to further ensure that the people were not deprived of their genuine democratic rights and aspirations.