STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: With the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti having held pubic grievances camps in almost all districts of the State, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, on Monday questioned the neglect of District Udhampur from the itinerary of the CM.
He said that primarily being an opposition bastion, district Udhampur was being ignored in development and allied matters for political reasons with opposition workers also being harassed and terrorized.
He said that with the BJP ministers and its hostile leadership averse to the development needs and other genuine concerns of the district, all hopes were pinned upon the Chief Minister as the head of the government to dispense justice and uphold the constitutional guarantees of the opposition particularly those of Panthers Party.
Urging upon the Chief Minister to hold Public Darbar in Udhampur also on the analogy of other districts, Singh said that it would enable her to have a firsthand assessment of the ground situation besides the working of district administration that was being used by vested interests in the government to subserve their political interests leading to alienation and unrest amongst the general masses.
Alleging politicisation of bureaucracy, Singh said that several BJP ministers and Deputy CM in particular were using the civil and police administration to browbeat the Panthers Party workers and to settle political scores with them.
Alleging subversion of democratic rights of JKNPP in district Udhampur, Singh said that its workers were being bullied, harassed, intimidated, terrorised and implicated in false police cases at the behest of BJP leaders.
Seeking the personal intervention of the Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti into the motivated administrative activism against Panthers Party, the Party Chairman regretted that district Udhampur had failed to receive her attention despite several reports of maladministration and a partisan bureaucracy.
Expressing concern over the utter neglect and deprivation of the areas that had voted for Panthers Party in last Assembly elections in the constituencies of Ramnagar, Udhampur and Chenani of district Udhampur, Singh said that several officers had themselves confessed to have received instructions in this regard from BJP leadership.
He said that several employees and officers were harassed and pre-maturely transferred in the said constituencies for having addressed the public demands of the villages that had voted for opposition parties particularly the JKNPP.
Having been exposed for its omissions and commissions, the incumbent BJP leadership was taking support of the Deputy Chief Minister and other ministers to use the bureaucracy for bullying the Panthers activists and their employee siblings working in various government departments.
Urging upon the Chief Minister to personally take stock of the grievances of the diverse sections of society, Singh said that being head of the government she was expected to ensure justice to all irrespective of their social or political affiliations.