Act fast and decisively

Rajan Gandhi
Our India is a unique country spread over with different culture, habits and rituals. On one side are Himachali peace loving people and on the other side are Punjabis and Dogras best known for guarding the frontiers. So within few kilometers, with the change of boundaries of states, temperament and priorities change. Any  frequent traveller can vouch for simplicity of Himachalis or hospitality of Punjabis and Kashmiris or for that matter religious flavor of Dogras and the trend goes on and on down till Kanyakumari with state after state exhibiting unique identities and priorities. So much so that even political class of different states has shown this tendency of uniqueness though their common aim is to stay in power.
AAP of Delhi has shown little concern for the people of Delhi – be it numerous municipal agitations causing hardships to the public, peak winter pollution year after year or sealing of shops which has almost brought the whole business activities of the state to a standstill. But who cares, ruling AAP seems to have only one agenda, confrontation with Centre to the extent that they even slapped and heckled their own Chief Secretary. Punjab Government is on somewhat different platform as Captain Amarinder Singh promised a drug free, job oriented corruption free society. But in reality Punjab CM is making aerial survey for sand mafia as if whole police force of the state is incompetent to tackle them. Though on the positive note drug mafia is very much on the run in the state and CM’s seriousness towards employment can be gauged from the fact that he is actively participating in the campus placements of even private universities of the state. Himachal has been the smartest of all, with Government getting Baddi developed as an industrial town, Una establishing IIIT, Mandi IIT, Bilaspur getting AIIMS , Dharamshala with world class stadium and most importantly Himachal has established itself as the main tourist destination of India. Caring for their people, State Government has floated global tender for clearing far flung snow clad passes like Rohtang and others to make them accessible throughout the year. Uttar Pradesh has gone one step ahead and it seems CM Yogi Adityanath is man on mission. Within a span of one year their projects of AIIMS, Metro, high speed highways are in rocket mode. On one hand encounter specialist UP police has ensured safety for all and on the other hand CM has successfully organized business conclave which turned out to be a huge success with an assured investment of billions and over 20 lakh jobs within five years.
On the issue of safeguarding the interests of his state, Andhara CM got his TDP party ministers resign from PM Modi’s cabinet on a simple issue that Andhra is not getting its due share of money for development. Now come to our state, Jammu and Kashmir, where our PM has given package of almost one lakh crore under PMDP with an assurance of sky is the limit for J&K as far as central assistance is concerned, with two AIIMS – two Smart Cities , but even after a lapse of three years our State Government has not been able to acquire land for even one AIIMS leave alone two , no stone laying for a single major project be it Metro, Smart City, Bunkers, , Gandola project, Mubarak Mandi heritage project, four laning of Jammu – Poonch highway and  many more and majority of these projects are stuck up due to delay in acquiring designated land for the purpose. Any legal occupant of the land must be adequately compensated under the prevailing laws and law shall take its own course in case of encroachers of state land but the minutes of meeting of state ministry of Tribal Affairs raises a big question mark on the very future of all these projects.  What is our state government trying to do?  Nationalist Gujjars and Bakerwals  have been part of our Jammu division living in peace and harmony with others for decades with no problem what so ever for ages but the recent incidents of Rasana village seems to be a well thought strategy to alienate these nomads from main stream. No one can justify or protect the criminal who has committed the heinous crime and criminals don’t have any religion for sure. Government must shun politics of confrontation and assure free and fair investigation. In this age of technology simple DNA test will nail the guilty but to keep the matter boiling suits every political party. Appeasement and confrontation seems to be the state policy right now. With  Naushera closed for last almost one month with no business , no studies and normal life getting totally disturbed and even at Sunderbani, Kalakote agitating our Government has got itself trapped on the issue of ADCs and  it seems they have stirred up the hornets’ nest as now each and every politician is demanding district status for his constituency  so much so that one demonstration was held for granting district status to Jammu West constituency of  state BJP Chief CA Satpal Sharma .Raising pro Pak slogans is the flavor of today be it assembly, BGSU or any demonstration. State Government unnecessarily tried to take over UIET College of engineering causing unrest among students also. One can understand constrains of coalition politics and posturing by both parties for vote bank is acceptable but not at the cost of hardships to public. Either our politicians are not serious or there is a deep rooted conspiracy to disturb the social fabric of Jammu division. Onus lies on both the partners of ruling alliance more so with BJP who secured 25 MLAs out of 37 from Jammu division. Any unrest in this region will directly impact their vote bank and as such they must share the responsibility to get the things sorted out at the earliest.
State police is also caught in catch nine position , be it registration of FIR against army very well knowing that under AFSPA it cannot and it will never stand in court of law but to score political up man ship they have been made a pawn time and again. Recent raids by NIA on Srinagar central jail depict the actual state of affairs. With recovery of mobile phones, Pakistani flags, SIMs, pen drives, memory cards etc it seems anti national elements are very much in touch with their Pakistani handlers with the active support of local administration and even recent appointment of new ADGP prisons who toured different prisons hasn’t made any practical impact on their activities. In today’s technological scenario any cross border talks can be easily traced out by local police as they do in case of tracing militants but turning a blind eye towards anti national activities within prison raises a big question mark. With already IPS deficient police force political pressures further demoralize the cadre which is not at all desirable in the present situation.
All these facts and figures point to only option, act fast and decisively before things take an ugly turn. With summer tourism approaching it will be in the interest of all to keep peace and harmony in each region of the State and all resources of the State Government must be utilized for the issues of development only. With even parliamentary committee showing concern on the issues of PMDP projects, State Government must realign its priorities towards development and ensure all projects are started and completed in the stipulated time so that people of this troubled state also take a sigh of relief instead of getting entangled in politics of divisiveness. It’s time to fulfill the dreams of millions of people of the state who voted PDP- BJP on a simple plank of development of state. One hopes “Sabk saath sabka vikaas” is implemented in true spirit and our state is able to break the never ending cycle of bloodbath.
“Politics dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, choices determine our actions which ensure our destiny.”
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