The taste of pudding is in eating, goes the saying. There is loud claim by the Government that the hilly districts like Kishtwar and Doda are getting due share in development. Figures and statistics are rolled out to convince people that something is being done in these two districts that would lift them out of poverty and destitution. But the situation on the ground does not corroborate what the official position is. Youth of these two districts are steadily leaving their villages and habitats and heading towards Jammu city and other towns in search of livelihood because it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to find means of subsistence. Normally nobody likes to leave his or her ancestral place unless circumstances are so hard and pressing that there is no alternative but to migrate.
These two districts comprise the mountainous region of Jammu division. Access is enormously difficult and dangerous. It adversely affects all other areas of development, education, health, services, information, communication etc. The primary woe of the people is that the hilly road from Batote to Pul Doda is all mountainous, slippery and prone to landslides or mudslides and shooting stones. There is no month or fortnight when there is not a vehicular accident taking precious lives while plying along this tortuous road. The State Government fights for more and more funds from the centre and there is also the Prime Ministers Grameen Sarak Yojna under which millions of rupees have been provided to J&K. Why does not the Government feel the necessity of building a four-lane road from Batote to Kishtwar and Bhaderwah so that the entire region of more than five lakh people gets a new lease of life? In all other aspects the two districts have remained abysmally backward despite tall claims of the local leadership. The people openly accuse local leaders of playing dirty game of partisan politics and amassing enormous wealth but doing little for the people. Migration of the poor and the destitute from these districts to other towns is a reflection on the performance of the Government. It is discrimination against them. The Government should have a special and exclusive package for such districts which focuses on four-lane asphalted all weather highway, an advanced technical institute, a full-fledged radio and television station, and more importantly a super speciality 100 bed hospital with most modern service and equipment. The half-hearted measure of which the Government boasts in the name of development of such districts is only eye wash.
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