JAMMU: J&K Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta on Sunday tasted a bitter pill during a public Darbar in his home constituency at Channi Himmat Housing Colony after he was grilled by senior citizens and local residents over poor pace of developmental activities in the area. Soon after his arrival here at Panch Mandir when Kavinder Gupta started making opening remarks and acknowledged the people of the area for supporting him during Assembly elections, he was literally cornered by several local residents who posed a simple question to him,’ what you have done in return for the housing colony and its residents after winning the election?”
These people listed various day to day problems including condition of roads, poor water and electricity supply, and faulty drainage system. Issues of maintenance of parks and safety of senior citizens, wild growth of grass and sanitation, were also taken up by the aggrieved citizens before their public representative.
Stunned by the aggression shown by senior citizens present in the gathering, organisers of the meeting tried to intervene and pacify the agitated citizens but they refused to listen to their pleas even as chaos prevailed.
Kavinder Gupta himself made several attempts to present his report card before the citizens of the area but he was made to wait before several among them shared their nightmarish experiences. A memorandum was also presented to the MLA on behalf of the Residents Welfare Association on the occasion.
As chaos prevailed during the meeting, Kavinder Gupta made a passionate appeal to the residents to give him some more time to transform his vision of development for the people of the area. Taking a dig at his rivals, Gupta said, “I believe in improving delivery system and make difference in the lives of people by completing developmental works in time. He said unlike others I don’t believe in pasting king size posters. I can survive on my monthly salary and I am ready to work round the clock for the welfare of the people of my constituency”. Gupta also listed several approved and ongoing projects and directed the senior officers of various departments to expedite the work.
He asked local residents to support him and his workers, and urged them to maintain regular contact with his constituency managers for early redressal of genuine grievances.