Avtar Bhat
The Bani Assembly segment is a saga of constant neglect and official apathy. The failure of successive Governments since 1947 to pay proper attention towards the development of this Assembly segment is main cause that people in this hilly belt live in abject poverty and ignorance.
The Bani Assembly Constituency without good network of roads has hampered its development totally. The road connecting Basohli to Bhadarwah via Bani is being constructed by Sampark for last over one decade and work on the same is going at snail’s pace with the result in the event of inclement weather the people traveling on this road face problems due to shooting stones and land erosion.
The failure of the successive Governments to construct a good road network in this hilly belt has pushed the area into backwardness. The people have no source of livelihood also as being terrain and hilly, the agriculture production is far less here. Moreover no proper attention has been paid by the authorities in developing the orchards though the area borders Himachal Pradesh and it has a temperate climate suitable for cultivation of apple and other kind of fruit grown in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
The apathy of the successive Governments towards this hilly belt can be gauged from the fact that in neighbouring HP, the Government of that State has constructed pucca roads to the last basti on hill tops while Bani- Bhadarwah Highway will still take a decade or so in completion as in many areas the work has not been started.
The problems of people are galore and it needs some special developmental schemes to take the area at par with other parts of State in development. The problems are so grave that they can’t be solved by any MLA in five years tenure and need introduction of special developmental schemes by the Government.
Hence holding squarely an MLA responsible for the party and neglect of the area can’t be justified in any way because through a cursory look of the Constituency one comes to know that it has never been in the mind of our rulers that far flung and remote areas too deserve development and people living here are also human beings and deserve the same treatment which those living in big cities and towns deserve.
No State can claim that it was on the path of development if it fails to pay proper attention to the development of each and every segment. Comparing Bani with other hilly States like Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal the difference is visible. Both these States which have 85 percent of hilly belt have constructed fully metalled roads on hilltops and people have all facilities at their door steps. In comparison to that Bani is far behind.
Though the area has a lot of potential for tourism development having very good and beautiful picnic spots and pilgrimage tourism centres like Luhang, Sarthal Valley, Juday Walli Mata etc but no attention has been paid for their development and beautification to attract tourists.
So far as day to day problems of people are concerned they face power as well as water shortage. Besides, the full ration quota is not being provided under APL category and people face lot of problem in getting the ration. Government needs to provide additional quota of ration as the entire area is totally Kandi but this demand has not been conceded so far.
Karodh Bani a hamlet of 30 houses has a population of 300 people. Karodh is a Panchayat and Darhol village is a part of it but there are no medicare facilities and people face problems of electricity says Anchal Singh a small businessman of the area.
The School Karodh has three teachers but one or two are only available. There is no link road and the people travel on foot, he says, adding Basohli and Bani road is the only link in the area which is miles away from their village.
Some times the serious patients who are to be shifted to hospital die on way to Hospital due to lack of proper road connectivity, he says.
He says the ration is being given on the basis of ration cards of 2000 and new ration cards have not been made as per the census of 2011 though family strength has increased over these years.
Siara is another Panchayat in Bani where people face water scarcity. People say pipes in half of the area have been laid and later work was abandoned. Primary school has been constructed but the number of students is more. There is no dispensary in this entire area, says Ram Singh a resident of the area.
Banjal in Bani is another area with a population of 2500 people. But it has no road connectivity. The people also face ration scarcity as CAPD gives only 10 kgs of ration per card says Chaman Lal. In Kachar area people have not been given the BPL card, says Sanjay Kumar a labour. He said poor people are being harassed by CAPD officials.
People in this entire hilly belt face problem of ration and they accuse the CAPD of not supplying ration as per the need. In Assur, Bani people have not been given the quota of sugar for last two months and they have to purchase the same in black, says Yog Raj a local resident.
In Sarthal area of Bani people say there is no development except the works constructed out of MLA’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF). Mohammed Saleem a resident of the area alleges that the people are not being given the full quota of ration and the same is sold in black market.
The developmental works are at standstill and no work has been started on nine link roads in Bani and Dugan block, says Manhas Mohammed.
He says that people of Sarthali donated land for Degree College and it was promised that donar families will be provided one job in college but that promise was not kept. Besides there is no Science subject in Bani Degree College and the students who want to take admission in Science stream have to go to Kathua and other places.
He further adds that the Sewa Hydro Electric Project constructed by NHPC has its head works in the area and it has to develop five kms area in the project vicinity and provide free power supply to people but they failed to do the same.
Daleep Singh another resident of the area says people have no complaint about their representative but Bani faces official apathy as our representative is from Opposition BJP.
Salna is yet another village in Bani where people face water scarcity says Roshan Lal a local resident, Chali Amrota which is five kms away from Bani has no road, says Kamal Singh.
Another problem which the people face especially during dry spell is that the entire dust of the Basohli -Bhadarwah road which is being constructed by GREF enters residential houses as no water is sprayed on road by the constructing agency.
Dalangal in Bani has 25 km road but no bridge over river Khad at Katli due to which the area is disconnected with rest of the State. People also face water and power crisis. There is a Health Sub Centre without doctors, says Bakshi Ram.
The link roads are main problem every where in the Constituency, says Gias-ud-Din of Khurrwah. Luhang also faces road problem as GREF has started excavation in a haphazard manner and it is very difficult to travel the area during rains, he adds.
Luhang was announced as Niabat a long back but work has not been started till date. The Centre is giving lot of funds for the development of the State but the same are not transferred on ground.
He says Lohang is famous for Trout fish but no attention is paid to boost its production. Trout mela was held here in 2008 and not later, he adds.
In Lohang people face severe power crisis and condition of road is worst. The people also face ration scarcity, says Asgar Ali. The tape water is totally contaminated during rainy season and there is shortage of doctors in local hospital, he adds.
Admitting that the area has faced a constant neglect for years together MLA Lal Chand says being a hilly terrain its total development was not possible in five years or so and it will take more time.
He however claims credit for electrifying entire Constituency during his tenure as MLA. He says in PHE Sector Rs 30 crore projects were brought by him in the Constituency to overcome the water scarcity problem in remote villages. “Besides I took a stand and got the teachers of the Constituency transferred back in Bani tehsil who were posted outside. This way the problem of shortage of teachers in the local schools was over come to a great extent”, he adds.
Criticizing the State Government for not giving permission for construction of cement plant at Banjali Hill which has the natural resource for production of cement, he says 20,000 to 25,000 local youth could have got employment by setting up a cement plant there. The hill has huge deposits of cement rocks and Shri Ultra Cement also conducted survey and the tests conducted by it showed good results but Government did not permit setting up of a cement plant there, he adds.
Master Lal Chand while expressing dismay over the treatment meted out by the Government to his Constituency says that Lakhanpur -Bani-Basohli and Sarthal Development Authority has not been given adequate funds for the development of the area. Accusing State Government of total discrimination towards the area, he says how the development can be possible on expected lines when the State Government does not show any inclination in this regard. The NHPC, which constructs Sewa Hydel Project in the area and State Government had reached an agreement that one percent from the profit of the company and same amount added to it by State Government will be spent for the development of five km area within project. This money can amount to Rs 12 to 13 crore every year which was to be utilized for the development of the project premises. But State Government has never released the money, he adds.
He says moreover work on Basohli Bani Bhadarwah Sampark Project is also slow which has added to woes of people.
Maintaining that roads are his main priority MLA says many steps were taken for construction of roads in the Constituency to link the villages with Bani and other parts of the Jammu region. In this regard he says 13 km Bani -Dagar road was constructed under PMGSY, besides five to six km long Chandal-Roulka and 4 km long Bani-Bandar road were also constructed under PMGSY.
He says Barmota road was constructed under NABARD scheme. Earlier people used to carry their luggage on mules or shoulders but now they have been relieved of this problem.
Besides the MLA has constructed a tourist hut at Bani, way side amenity at Kardoh and a park at Mela ground Bani extended which was dedicated by him to the people on June 27 this year. A project for view point at Kharkal near Sarthal was constructed which has seven falls and gives a panoramic view.
He says high mast lights were installed at Bari Chandan near temple of Chandi Mata and second at Dhadu-Panialog at Chandika temple by him.
He says two model villages were constructed in his Constituency which include Dulangal-Bhadar and Lohang.
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