JAMMU: Jammu Province People Forum (JPPF), an amalgam of more than 50 social, commercial and other organisations, on Sunday held a protest against the statement given by the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on artificial lake and AIIMS in Jammu.
(Retd.) Judge, Pavitar Singh said that since inception of his Coalition Government, discrimination with Jammu is increasing day by day, every now and then anti national in general and anti Jammu statements in particular are given by the leadership who are voted for power.
He also added that Jammuites have given full mandate to BJP in anticipation of good governance and betterment of the public residing in Jammu province, but it is very unfortunate that immediately after taking oath in the presence of national level leadership of BJP Mufti Mohammed Sayeed had given credit to militants as well as Pakistan for smooth conduct of elections in the State which was widely condemned by the masses, but the elected representatives kept mum.
Hitting out on Mufti’s remarks of non feasibility of artificial lake in Jammu and non construction of AIIMS in Jammu, Pavitar said, “The public wanted to know the project was planned, designed and approved by the various agencies and was partially implemented also and work has also been initiated and it is shocking to know that CM is now talking of non feasibility of the same, had it been a non feasible project why the same issue was not raised when his party was in Opposition.”
He asked government to make the project report public so as to see that what technicalities are stopping the construction of the said lake.
“We are of the opinion that it is nothing other than discrimination of Jammu, as the Kashmir Centric leadership does not want to see any development of Jammu province and they are compelling us to agitate for separate Jammu.”
Other JPPF members present were Er. M.S Katoch (Working President), Inderjeet Khajuria (Senior Vice President), Gajan Singh (Vice President), M.L Sharma (Finance Secretary), Amrit Magotra (Office Secretary), Avinash Bhatia (Chief Organiser), P.R Slathia, Rajiv Mahajan (Press Secretary), Balwinder Bhatia, Gajan Singh Akali, Th Narayan Singh, Kamla Sharma, Sunita Sharma, Pritam Sharma (Kranti Dal), R.L Tandon, Rajinder Gupta (President JPPF Shaka Sabha Gurha), Prof. B.L Bhardwaj, Puran Chand Sharma, Rakesh Gupta and Surinder Singh.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena today asked the BJP to withdraw its support to the PDP-led Coalition Government in the State for allegedly ignoring the interests of the people of Jammu.
“BJP should withdraw its support to PDP for ignoring the interests of Jammu and should strongly oppose the decisions of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed,” President of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena Ashok Gupta said while talking to reporters.
The workers of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena took out a procession in Jammu against the shelving of the multi-crore artificial lake project on river Tawi and denial of AIIMS to Jammu region.
The State Government is not taking up the issue of AIIMS for Jammu with the Centre, “and now the decision of the Chief Minister to abandon the prestigious artificial lake project is another decision against the interests of the people of Jammu,” he said.
On the lake project which is aimed at beautification of the city and to attract tourists and pilgrims visiting the State, Gupta said the decision of the State Government is “most unfortunate and condemnable”.
Gupta said that while the Chief Minister showed temerity in denying Jammu the projects, the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh and entire BJP leadership of the State seemed to have succumbed to the pressure.
“If the decision has been taken to appease Pakistan who might have objected to the construction of the lake on Tawi, then it’s really unfortunate and a probe must be held on this and a white paper must be issued on this explaining the factors for the cancelling of the lake project,” he said.
Meanwhile, the activists of Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party staged a protest against the discrimination being meted out with the people of Jammu region.
Led by Zonal President Jammu, Neeraj Gupta, the activists assembled at Press Club and raised slogans against the State Coalition Government.
Neeraj warned that if the government does not stop this discrimination they must get ready for the consequences. He also criticised the new recruitment policy which will cause more unemployment and desperation among the youths of State.