District Development Councils (DDCs), their Chairpersons, Vice Chairpersons and members are expected to prioritise attending to the issues for which they sought mandate from the people and who are least bothered whether office of some Chairperson is well furnished and decorated or not or whether one got lesser or reasonably adequate monetary benefits and other protocol. We have seen the last two to three months having virtually been spent only on establishing and settling issues which, we are afraid, largely concerned the status, position, levels of parity with Cabinet ministers etc in matters of authority and monetary benefits and the like which conventionally is referred to as ”warrant of precedence”. It may be recalled that the DDC members had protested and some even threatened to resign out- rightly if their demands of ”due protocol” and other benefits and perks were not considered favourably. Since the demands were largely found genuine, the issue was settled ostensibly to the satisfaction of the DDC members and their Heads or Chairpersons and Vice Chairpersons. So far so good and so long as erupting issues in a democratic set up are settled on merits and with holistic approach , with the same spirit minor irritants and frivolous issues should not be allowed to take the best of the discretion and the expected role one had to play especially being a duly elected representative. That new type of problems can erupt now to the extent of going in on a confrontationist mode with the district authorities over minor and avoidable issues by some DDC members and the Chairpersons has the potential to cast long shadows on the lot of hopes and aspirations of the people who have enthusiastically participated in the democratic electoral process to have their respective areas developed as per their aspirations and thus chosen their representatives to these DDCs. The proverbial warm and fuzzy attitude towards areas like “DCs not facilitating our functioning” or “violating the due protocol” and yet again “giving an office unfit even for class 4 employee” or that – letters addressed are with prefixes as ”Dear and Smt., instead of Honourable and Respectable” etc are fraught with consequences of creating unnecessary unpleasantness and giving an impression of one-upmanship vis-a-vis the Deputy Commissioners and other bureaucrats. Agreed, since the entire exercise of the formation of the DDCs democratically is done in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time and the elected members undergoing a new experience equally for the first time, certain minor problems and impediments are likely to emerge especially with District Authorities which both the sides must settle in the very first instance rather than the same getting protracted. The District authorities must also look into the problems and avoid unnecessary controversies like identifying the works of development without taking the “consent” of the DDC members. Similar ”complaints” are there in respect of works in tribal areas proposed without “taking on board the DDC members”. It has to be borne in mind by the District authorities that the DDC members are elected directly by the people to whom they are answerable hence their involvement, consent, suggestions etc in developmental works pertaining to their areas should not be ignored. Let prestige, ego, hurting of sentiments etc not get precedence over performance, development and progress of the concerned areas and service to the people. The idea of establishing a mediating authority or any such arrangement to take care of such issues in future, if prevalent in any state or UT, could also be considered by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel