Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 16: Annoyed over the failure of the Government to pay the honorarium to the members of the VDCs across Jammu region for the past several years, Harsh Dev Singh Chairman JKNPP and Former Minister staged a dharna here today seeking justice for the aggrieved members of various Village Defence Committees (VDCs) across the UT.
While expressing his concern over the miserable plight of VDCs, he accused the Saffron Party of treating the VDC members as ‘throwaways’ after being used by it for promoting its political interests.
Addressing the media, Harsh Dev Singh pointed out that with an aim to contain the activities of militants in rural and remote areas and to ensure security and safety of the identified villages, the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) in the erstwhile State had been constituted in the mountainous and remote hamlets since 1996. When the militancy in J&K was at its peak and authorities were unable to protect the lives and properties in far-off villages, several people, especially the youth took the initiative and enrolled themselves as VDC members to safeguard their community from militant attacks, Harsh divulged.
Lambasting the BJP for discarding the VDC members to languish and yell on roads for their wages despite they still performing their duties, Harsh Dev Singh said the nationalist people who rose to the occasion to become protective shield of the people, were used by the Saffron party in its election campaigns for political gains.
Calling upon the Lt Governor to take cognizance of the sacrifices made by the VDCs for more than two decades, Harsh Dev Singh asserted that the deprived members perform similar duties as SPOs and as such they also need to be adequately paid for their services.
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