Mohinder Verma
A good leader is always enthusiastic about the cause of the people and reacts to the problems of the people in a holistic manner. This was exactly what the people of Bhaderwah Assembly constituency experienced when son of the soil, Ghulam Nabi Azad was the representative of this area in the Legislative Assembly.
This constituency started treading the path of development in all the sectors as Mr Azad, who was also Chief Minister of the State, left no stone unturned to kick start the works at large scale in order to completely change the developmental profile of this constituency, which is blessed with scenic beauty to attract large number of tourists.
For some years, the developmental works continued smoothly but following the toppling of Mr Azad led Coalition Government one after another hurdle started cropping up in the developmental works more particularly after 2008 Assembly elections and change of the guard in the State.
With the passage of time, all the developmental activities in almost all the sectors slowed down considerably thereby creating resentment among the people not only against the new Government but also against their new representative in the Assembly, Mohd Sharief Niaz, as according to the people, he failed to prevail upon the Government during the past five and half years to ensure smooth continuation of work on the schemes started by Mr Azad.
Although Mr Niaz claims that he always espouse the cause of the constituency and vociferously taking up the issues confronting the people both inside and outside the Legislative Assembly, the people have divergent opinion about his performance as MLA. While some people describe his performance as gloomy, the others are of the saying that whatever Mr Niaz as MLA could do he did for the constituency.
“The developmental works in all the sectors have virtually come to the grinding halt as neither the new MLA could arrange funds for their completion nor the liabilities of the contractors could be cleared”, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Seri Bazaar said during the random survey conducted by EXCELSIOR to ascertain the performance of MLA during the past five and half years.
“No doubt, Mohd Sharief Niaz also belongs to the Congress party, which is a Coalition partner in the present Government, but he has failed to take the developmental activities started by Mr Azad to logical conclusion”, he said, adding “we have rarely heard our MLA raising the issue of incomplete works with the concerned quarters. Had he played the positive role he would have succeeded in speeding up the works”.
Rajeev Kumar, a shopkeeper of the town said, “efforts were made to provide justice to each and every area of the constituency during the tenure of Mr Azad but now the discrimination has crossed the limits”, adding “as far as road connectivity is concerned only those areas are getting preference of the MLA where his workers and kith and kin are residing”.
Pointing towards huge potholes on the roads and insanitary conditions in the town, Kant Dogra, a retired Chief Manager of Punjab National Bank said, “I think sitting MLA has completely whitewashed the developmental performance registered during Mr Azad’s tenure due to his biased approach”, adding “the poor condition of road from Pul Doda up to Bhaderwah and Gatha was clearly indicating the prevailing developmental scenario in the constituency”.
“On one side he is not coming forward to get the stalled works completed and on their other side he has restricted his activities to certain areas”, Rattan Chand Sharma, a resident of Vasik Dera said, adding “the issue of providing filtered drinking water to the entire constituency was brought to the notice of MLA a number of times but majority of population is still relying on natural water resources to meet their drinking water requirement”, adding “if the MLA cannot ensure safe drinking water to the people what else is expected from him”.
The unfiltered water issue was substantiated by womenfolk, who were found carrying pitchers and other utensils in the morning and evening hours to bring water from safe natural resources like Gupt Ganga for drinking purpose. It came to the notice of EXCELSIOR that notwithstanding unfiltered water supply tariff equivalent to the capital cities of the State is being charged from the people.
The people are very critical of role played by the MLA on the issue of shifting of Sub-District Hospital to the new building, which is almost five kilometers away from the town. “A true representative of the people is the person who minimizes their difficulties but he remained mute spectator when the grievances of the people were being increased by way of shifting Sub-District Hospital away from the town”, Satish Chander Kotwal said.
“In the absence of proper mode of transportation, the ailing people are getting compelled to cough up huge money in hiring Tata Sumos to reach the new hospital”, people said, adding “though old hospital building is being used for emergency services that too following intense protest from the people and directions from the High Court yet the same lacks the adequate facilities”.
“The MLA misled us on the shifting of Sub-District Hospital as initially he told us that at the new building super specialty doctors would be made available and the routine works would continue from the old building”, Ratan Singh said, adding “his real designs came to fore when entire hospital was shifted to the new location despite public unrest”.
“What else is expected from the MLA, who refused to consider the concern of huge population for obvious reasons”, a student Bashir Ahmed said, adding “no doubt several new health centres for the area have been announced about which the MLA is boasting off but the most important aspect—availability of doctors has not received the required attention of the MLA despite the fact that Health Department remained with the Congress Ministers during all these years”.
The people are also critical about the MLA’s role in the education sector. They are of the opinion that only expansion of education sector received the attention with little focus on providing adequate number of teachers. “A number of representations were made to the MLA in this regard but the situation remains the same”, Yughvir Singh, a resident of Gandoh said.
However, some of the inhabitants of localities particularly near the Dak Bunglow minced no words to praise the MLA as far as developmental activities are concerned. “He is doing everything to come up to the expectations of the people and is easily accessible to the people”, Sadiq Ali said, adding “it is a fact that some works got stalled following the exit of Ghulam Nabi Azad but MLA cannot be held responsible for the same”.
Tourism promotion, which was the main area of focus for the former Chief Minister keeping in view the scenic beauty of Bhaderwah, too suffered severe setback as majority of the works of the Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA), are either still incomplete or yet to take off.
For example, the light and sound system at Bhaderwah Fort, the tenders for which were floated in 2011, still remains a distant dream. Moreover, work on conservation of Bhaderwah Fort is also going on at snail’s pace. Similar is the fate of providing water supply to various tourist resorts by way of laying of GI pipes.
The construction of dormitories at Gatha for the tourists, which was mooted several years back, has yet not began and Tourist Reception Centre buildings for Gandoh and Thathri have fallen victim to the land disputes but the MLA has failed to play his role in getting these works started. Similar is the fate of power sector as works taken up under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) have failed to reach logical conclusion despite the fact that major parts of the constituency are reeling under power crisis.
When contacted for comments on the public opinion about his performance, Sharief Niaz admitted that developmental works in certain sectors slowed down following Mr Azad’s exit. Claiming that he tried his level best to ensure continuance of works started by Mr Azad, he said, “less funding from the Government is the main reason behind slow progress”.
Though Mr Niaz admitted shortage of doctors and teachers in the health and education institutions yet he dismissed the public assertion that no step was initiated to overcome this deficiency. “The official record is testimony of the fact that during past five and half years situation was improved in many of these institutions that too following my intervention”, he said, adding “I am still vigorously following the case of left over institutions with the Government”.
“There was no concept of water filtration plant in the constituency but now several schemes have been submitted to the Government for approval”, he said while disclosing that several PHE schemes, which were started during the tenure of Mr Azad failed to yield any fruitful results due to procurement and utilization of sub-standard material by the PHE Department.
He justified the shifting of Sub-District Hospital outside the town on the ground of non-availability of adequate land.
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