Avtar Bhat
Though given a tehsil status during the Dogra rule, Basohli has not been given a fair deal while creating new districts in the State by previous Government and there is a lot of public resentment against the same in this entire tehsil.
Spread over an area of several kilometers, the Basohli Assembly Segment represented by BJP MLA Jagdish Raj Sapolia is bordering Kathua and Hiranagar Assembly segments in West, Billawar in North, Bani in East and though separated by the Ravi river, it has Himachal in South. Once a hub of ancient civilization, Basohli is famous for its age old art and craft with people still craving for Basohli shawls and its world famous paintings.
One of the biggest tehsils during Dogra rule when the Chamba district now in Himachal Pradesh as well as Bani and Billawar tehsils of Kathua district were parts of it, Basohli was not considered for granting a district status while some small tehsils than it were given this status during previous Congress-People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Government. This attitude of the Government has dampened the people of this Assembly segment.
They feel totally neglected as successive Governments after 1947 have failed to pay attention to the area as it deserved. This is a common feeling of the people of this Assembly segment.
Having many natural resources and lot of potential for tourism promotion, Basohli is presently crying for development as no steps were taken by the Government for years together to develop its art and crafts or pay attention to bring it on tourist map’ says Rajat Sharma, a social activist from Basohli town.
“By giving an impetus to domestic cottage industry in the area and encouraging Basohli art and painting would have helped in employment generation to a great extent and the youth of the area who are today in desperation for jobs would have been independently earning their livelihood’’, he adds.
Another problem faced by Basohli people is that of Ranjit Sagar dam oustees. The people of 22 villages were ousted after their villages submerged in dam water. After the construction of Ranjit Sagar dam on river Ravi by the Punjab Government thousands of people became shelter -less. One family member was to be given a job by the Project authorities as per agreement of the Punjab Government with J&K Government, said Vaid Fanda, president Beopar Mandal Basohli. The Punjab Government gave them jobs but dislocated them further by posting them on Rajasthan border. This way these people were put to further hardships, he adds.
The issue was taken up by the local MLA and other public figures with both Punjab and State Government but to no avail. Moreover, many dam oustees have not as yet been paid the compensation and the Project authorities have still to pay Rs 10 to 12 crore to various families, says Fanda.
He says the compensation was earlier withheld as these families had some dispute. It was later on solved, still the amount of compensation was not paid to them.
Fanda says the Government opened a painting centre to impart training to children of Basohli to revive the ancient art of the area. But no one is interested now as there is no impetus and encouragement from the Government to the promotion of Basohli art. Presently, the Basohli paintings are totally in shambles, he adds.
Besides, Basohli was one time a business hub for world famous Pashmina shawls and 1400 families were directly linked to it while it was feeding hundreds of more families indirectly. Earlier Pashmina was supplied from Kashmir and then from Ladakh but now machine made Pashmina has taken its place. “The Pashmina Shawl which was earlier named as Vaishali is also now in decay. This can be gauged from the fact that even 14 families are not linked to this trade at present’’ says Sham Lal a local resident.
He says though the brand name of Basohli shawl still exists, it has not been given impetus to the extent it deserves and the middle man is eating the vitals of artists at present.
Dhar -Mahanpur was made a model village in 1997 and then Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah inaugurated it. The road development of the area was started at that time but since then this road has not been blacktopped. This Model village is a sham as its gate has not been installed till date nor its lanes and drains have been constructed fully says Dheeraj Sharma another social activist of the area. He wants to know where Rs one crore was spent meant for this Model village. The tiles to be laid for the lanes of this Model village are lying stacked, he adds.
Another grievance, which the people of the area have is that the authorities of Sewa Hydel Project constructed by NHPC in Basohli and Bani tehsils have given jobs to the people from HP and ignored the people of Basohli villages like Haat, Mashika, Draman, Kasheed, Khadi etc.
Moreover the canal of the another Hydel Project constructed by the Power Development Corporation (PDC) of J&K along with link road at Mashika has been washed away by flash floods last year and people of the village are without road connectivity for a year now, he adds.
He says the records of death and birth are to be maintained at tehsil Headquarters as was decided in District Development Board (DDB) meeting but it has been kept at CMO’s Office Kathua with the result people have to face problems in visiting Kathua to frame certificates.
What is more puzzling is the fact that the Basohli Degree College does not exist in records and the land has not been transferred to the College as yet in revenue records says Sunil Soni, ex president Basohli Municipality. The college, which was constructed at Tigri Tola, 2.5 km away from Basohli town is a secluded area and also some times faces threat of being submerged in dam water. The college was also not inaugurated formally, he adds.
He says the college exists on 40 kanals of land while people offered 150 kanals near Basohli town but this was not agreed to by the Government. The MLA says that he took up these issues with the Government but being from Opposition it was not agreed.
Jandotra village is 18 kms away from Basohli on Bani road. The village has an oldest school which was established as Primary School in 1954 and later upgraded as Middle School in 1974. Since then despite the public demand it has not been upgraded, says Paranas Singh a driver by profession. He says the issue was taken up with the MLA also but he too failed to give justice to the area.
Power is the main problem in the area says Mohammed Din a shopkeeper. He says the Sub Station supplying power to the area is very small and Jandotra being the part of Suman Panchayat is having 600 to 700 residential houses but a separate sub station for the area has not been set up with the result people face power crisis.
He says link road from Jandotra to Jurankot has been a long standing demand of the people and it has not been constructed till date.
There is no facility for irrigating the land and Government has not taken any initiative to construct the lift irrigation from Chril nullah to Jandrota. The demand was also brought in the notice of the MLA, but to no avail, he adds.
The Government has constructed an Animal Husbandry Sub Centre and Primary Health Centre buildings in Jandrota area but no staff has been posted. Even after 60 years of independence the School has not been upgraded to Plus 2 level, he says.
He says that some schools were upgraded in other places but ours being a genuine demand has not been considered. “We are being sandwitched between Congress and BJP. Mohammed Hussian of Paplota says that 18 to 20 houses are in his village having a population of over 200 people and the village sans link road and school facilities.
People of Karanah, which is 22 kilometres away from Basohli also on Bani road have many grievances with their MLA too. As the successive Governments have failed to develop this area fully, the people here face acute scarcity of drinking water and they allege that their public representative could not solve this problem also in last six years despite repeated pleas.
The people in the area don’t have a link road and also face power crisis. “We took up the issue with the MLA many times but he did not pay any heed to it’’ says Mohammed Yasin of Karanah.
Shahrah is another village on Bani -Basohli road which is 27 kms away from the tehsil headquarters of Basohli. The people here have no major grievance with their MLA saying he constructed lanes and installed lights. The MLA visits the area and tries to do as much as he could says Suresh Singh a shopkeeper of the area.
But all is not well with the people of village Plani who face acute water scarcity. The village, which has 25 houses approximately is without water connections, says Suresh Paul a labourer. He says pipes were laid but they are disconnected at 10 places and the people fetch water from Ravi river which is at a distance of five kms.
The problem was brought in the notice of the MLA and except promises he could not do any thing to solve the same, he adds.
He says payment has not been made to labourers engaged in works to be constructed under NREGA. The High School Draman in the same area has shortage of staff and for 350 students there are only seven teachers. The MLA could have taken up this issue with the concerned authorities but he did not, say villagers, adding with the result the career of the students is at stake.
The water scarcity is so acute in some villages of the area that what to talk of people even cattle can’t get water to drink, says Jatinder Singh a shopkeeper of Shahrah village in Panchayat Sandar. He says no remarkable work was done in the area by the MLA and the Panchayat Ghar Sandar was not constructed despite repeated pleas.
Public representatives always ignored the area and they only come during vote, says Ranjit Singh of Shara.
The official apathy and neglect is so visible in this Kandi belt that people of Ghuni Dhar in Panchayat Jano face acute scarcity of drinking water and they fetch water from Garodi, 10 kms away in vans and keep it stocked in drums for two to three days.
Saleema, a house wife who was collecting water from a van while the Excelsior team reached this far flung area narrated the tale of her woes. “We purchase 10 drums of water for Rs 300 and it suffices for two days only. But whom will we approach, for us the Government and its representatives are deaf as they don’t hear our woes’’, she adds.
There are 80 to 100 houses living in this hilly belt and all face such a problem says, Mangata Gujjar. Hut Panchayat also faces water scarcity and power crisis. The road leading to Hut is Kuchha while the electric poles which have been uprooted were not re-erected or replaced by new ones by the concerned agency. These issues were taken up with MLA says Dev Raj of Hut. Thakur Dass Nambardar Jindhrali says that his village also faces water scarcity and the work on three km road was abandoned by GREF and the entire dust flies over the road while a vehicle passes over it. Not satisfied with the role of the MLA, Dass says he failed to get the problem redressed.
Sheetal Nagri (Bhoondh) is a small township in Basohli Assembly segment situated on Bani road. It hit in prominence during recent violence. A lavatory block was constructed in the township but instead of easing the problems of the people it has created a public nuisance as there is no water connection and total insanitation prevails adding to health hazards.
The area has a population of about 25,000 people and the condition of road is worst here as it has not been blacktopped for last eight to nine years, says Tilak Singh, Mankotia shopkeeper of the area. He says the MLA took personal interest in changing the name of the township from Bhoondh to Sheetal Nagri but the same was not inserted in official records till date despite the repeated pleas of the people.
However, when contacted the MLA, Jagdish Raj Sapolia says that one of the greatest drawbacks with this Constituency was that it had always been represented by the outsiders in the State Assembly. He says though he was elected twice to Assembly but during his first turn in 1987 he could not accomplish his task as after two years Governor’s rule was imposed in the State and all his plans regarding development of this Assembly segment fell through.
He says during his next tenure in 2008 he took various steps to accomplish the developmental plans which included construction of bridge over Ravi river at Basohli linking this historical township with Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and reducing the distance to a great extent.
He says that he took up the issue of construction of Defense road via Basohli to Kashmir via Dhar road.
Sapolia takes credit for launching and completion of various development projects in his Constituency. He says the construction of 176 crore Basohli bridge was the result of his hard efforts. Besides, it was by his efforts that the Degree College was opened at Mahanpur, name of Bhoondh was changed as Sheetal Nagri and Sheetal Nagri and Dar Manhanpur were given block status.
He says Rs two crore NABARD road from Damlad to Dhar and Dugloo via Huttar were constructed during his time. Besides, High Schools Dhoor Devta, Athiyalta, Manu, Chinera, Chankal, Sialag , Darman and Dhorsi were upgraded and a new Model village was constructed.
He says out of 23 primary schools 22 were upgraded up to middle standard, over 80 hand pumps and two tube wells one at Plusi and another for Plail were got sanctioned by him.
The MLA says Rs 6.75 crore were got sanctioned for PHE schemes in Basohli by him. In addition, one filtration plant and two OHTs were got sanctioned for Basohli, One OBC Hostel was constructed at Basohli which was inaugurated by the Minister of Social Welfare Sakina Ittoo last year.
He said a proposal has been submitted by him to Government for construction of a parallel Highway via Basohli connecting Kashmir and other parts of country. He says he has taken up the issue of granting district status to Basohli with Government as it is one of the oldest tehsils of the State. Sapolia says that he forcefully raised the demand in State Assembly that one job for one family of Ranjit Sagar dam oustees be given and has also taken up the issue regarding adjustment of the employees of Basohli posted on Rajasthan border in Ranjti Sagar dam at Basohli where 2500 posts are vacant.
He says he along with MLA Bani took up the issue of sanctioning Rs one crore which as per agreement from the earning of Sewa Hydel Project will be utilized for the development of Bani and Basohli tehsils. Though the same has not been provided as yet but this money which amounts to Rs three to four crore can be utilized for the development of the area.
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