Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 29: Apni Party Provincial president for Jammu and former minister, Manjit Singh today demanded holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as early as possible to restore the democratic system.
“The term of Urban Local Body, Panchayati Raj and Block Development Councils has expired and since then, the Election Commission has not declared any dates for holding the polls for the above said elected bodies in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Manjit Singh while addressing a public gathering at Ward Number 43, Nanak Nagar, Jammu today.
The meeting was organized by Apni Party, Minority Cell, District president, Dalbir Singh along with Ravinder Kour, president of Ward Number 43 in Nanak Nagar, falling in Assembly Constituency Bahu.
During the meeting, the ward residents highlighted their concern over the poor pace of development especially issues related cleanliness, garbage collection, choked drains, development of lanes and drains. They demanded installation of more streetlights, and deployment of sanitation workers and vehicles for garbage collection by the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC).
After the threadbare discussion over the issues that were highlighted by the people, Manjit Singh pointed that the Govt officials are unable to work as per the expectation of the people, and hence, these issues remain unaddressed even after repeated pleas.
“The works are in progress that belong to a particular political party, whereas the common man or majority of the wards face negligence with regard to development or cleanliness,” he added.
He said that the public issues can be addressed when there is an elected Govt, elected body in JMC, and Panchayats. “The people are concerned over the unnecessary delay in holding the polls in J&K. Several years have passed that there is no elected Govt, and the Babus are working as per their wishes, which has widened the gap between the Govt and the public. Therefore, it becomes imperative to restore the democratic system at the grass root level starting from Legislative Assembly by holding elections in J&K,” Singh stated.
He said that the term of PRIs, ULBs, and BDCs has ended, and the assembly is already not existing in Jammu and Kashmir. “The situation has given free hands to the Babus to decide the fate of the people regarding development, employment, contracts, grab of resources etc.,” he added.
Prominent among those who were present on the occasion include Provincial president, Jammu, Women Wing, Pavneet Kour, vice president, Neelam Gupta, Provincial secretary, Sheetal Sharma, senior vice president, Jammu Urban, Vaibhav Mattoo, Provincial president, Transport Union, Teerath Singh, Kuldeep Sudan and others.
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