STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Former Minister of State (Finance) and an Independent MLA, representing Udhampur Assembly segment, Pawan Gupta on Saturday raised his voice in support of delimitation of Assembly constituencies in the State while sharing his displeasure over its complete absence from the Governor’s Address in the State Assembly.
Gupta also questioned intentions of the BJP leadership over bending their knees before the PDP top brass by agreeing to safeguarding the special status of the State instead of demanding abrogation of Article 370, which grants special status to J&K in the Constitution of India.
Participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address, the fire brand MLA raised question marks over alliance government’s policy on rehabilitating west Pak and POK refugees.
He said there was no need for BJP to meekly surrender before the PDP leadership over the core issue of the party i.e abrogation of Article 370 but in the Governor’s Address the government talked about safeguarding the special status of the State.
“When I carefully study the Agenda of Alliance I see references on matters
related to foreign affairs of the country”, he said and asked what was the need
to highlight those issues
in the Agenda of Alliance for which this Assembly
has not been given any mandate.
Referring to some of the burning issues, confronting the alliance government, especially in Jammu region, Pawan Gupta alleged thousands of casual workers are struggling for regularisation of their services but instead of paying attention to their demands the Governor’s Address has adopted complete silence over the issue.
He said when it comes to developing tourism infrastructure across Jammu region the alliance government gives step motherly treatment to popular tourist sites in the region. Gupta said last year Rs 171 crore was earmarked in the DDB meeting but only Rs 71 crore were made available under the plan thus depriving the people of their basic needs. He said Governor’s Address talked about saving money but I want to ask what steps have been taken by the alliance government to bring down the expenditure.
