Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 7: Questioning the Government’s move of providing five-star facilities to detained Kashmir leaders in top Srinagar hotels at public expense, JKNPP Chairman and former Education Minister Harsh Dev Singh described the step as an organized loot of tax payer’s money.
Addressing a press conference, here today, he said that the Govt had caused the detention of the said leaders on August 5 on the grounds of threat to peace and security of the State and the Nation, but surprisingly they were accommodated in posh Kashmir hotels fully equipped with all luxuries rather than confining them in jails or in their homes as was done in the case of Jammu based political detenues.
“What kind of detention was it?” questioned Singh adding that rather than curtailing the liberties of these Kashmir leaders, they were kept as State guests in world famous Centaur Hotel facing the picturesque Dal Lake with all comforts and luxuries made available to them.
Amused over the unperceived and unexplained generosity shown to the detained leaders, Singh said that it was not only plunder of State scarce resources but had further exposed the duplicitous character of the ruling brigade. While the BJP was claiming all over of having sternly dealt with Kashmir leadership and having subjected them to the rigours of law for their anti-national utterances, the facts spoke otherwise, he added.
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Giving reference to media reports, according to which Rs 3.60 crore had been incurred on lodging of merely 31 political detenues in one of the Srinagar hotels and the TDC alone had submitted a bill of Rs 2.65 crore to the Government for provision of facilities to detained leaders, Harsh Dev said, “while Kashmir leadership enjoyed Government hospitality during their detention, the Jammu based leadership were forcefully kept in confinement in their respective houses despite their nationalist credentials.”
Asserting that the huge expenditure on the so-called arrested Kashmir leaders needed to be a subject matter of enquiry, Singh said that the policy of premium for separatism and punishment for nationalism had further shattered the faith of the people in the present dispensation.
Capt Anil Gour, State Secretary JKNPP, was also present in the press conference.
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