Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Feb 18: Taking the Government to task for not holding the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections in the State for last four years now, the Opposition BJP and NPP MLAs today said that this way not only the law is being violated by the Government but also the State is being deprived of the additional funds received from the Centre for them.
Quoting Section 14 of Municipal Act and Section 5 Municipal Corporation Act, Panther Party leader, Harshdev Singh said the Government was supposed to hold the elections to Municipal Corporations and local bodies within six months on the expiry of their term.
He said that elections to Municipal Corporations and local bodies were to be held in 2010 and the Government at that time announced that the same will be held in 2011. Later it remained mum on this vital issue and till date after a passage of four years the elections were not held, he added.
Singh said, the State this way not only lost GoI funds but also the Government violated the law. The elections to the ULBs should be held in a time frame, he added.
MLA Jammu West, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta also showed his grave concern over the failure of State Government in holding elections to ULBs. He wanted a reply from the Government that why elections were not held till date. By not holding the elections the entire authority was given to bureaucrats, he added.
NPP MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia also showed his grave concern over Government’s failure to hold the elections to ULBs in the State despite the repeated pleas from the members.
BJP MLA from Raipur, Domana, Bharat Bushan also took the Government to task for not holding the elections to ULBs in the State since 2010. He said the House wanted to know why the elections were not held so far and asked the Minister to inform the House about the same during his reply.
Harshdev also took Government to task for not constituting the Finance Commission saying that the law was passed but later the Government did not constitute the Commission.
He also wanted to know that how much money the Government has received from the Chief Minister and other VVIPs for installing their hoardings in the city and said is the city free for such big personalities or they are not bound by the law of the land?
He said encroachments of JDA and municipal land in Jammu and Srinagar are on increase and Government is not making any efforts to free the same.
He also sought action for those R&B contractors who abandon the work half way and demanded they be blacklisted.
Harshdev said that one of the reasons that contractors don’t show willingness of laying bitumen on Jammu roads is that they have been asked to ensure repairs if bitumen is erased up to five years. This is total injustice as in Kashmir engineers approved 75 mm bitumen on roads while in Jammu 20 mm has been sanctioned so no contractor is ready to come forward here he added.
Prof Gupta said that Jammu city is under constant pressure due to influx of migrants from different parts of the State.
He said Chief Minister in the Development Board meeting earlier had announced that Rs 61 core will be kept for BC road flyover. Next day it was said that funds are no where and first the road will be widened and then flyover will be constructed but till date nothing was done in this regard, he added.
He demanded construction of flyover in New Plot Janipur area, B C road and Talab Tillo.
Bharat Bushan showed concern over delay in four lanning of Akhnoor road the proposal lying pending for years. He asked the Minister to State in the House whether any headway was made in this regard or not as the road has a constant traffic pressure.
The MLA also stressed on beautification and developments of ponds in his Constituency and demanded immediate attention be paid to Barnai pond.
Mankotia demanded identification of land for Udhampur Municipal Corporation, building. He said Udhampur is one of the biggest towns after Jammu and Srinagar and it should be given funds accordingly.
Ashwani Sharma of JSM said that no project under NABARD was sanctioned in Bishnah and projects in his Constituency are pending for three years. He demanded work be started on Rihal bridge.
He also demanded development of Mansar and Surinsar lakes in Jammu region.
M S Niaz of Congress demanded construction of various roads in his Constituency while PDP’s Dr Shafi expressed concern over increasing dog bites in Srinagar city and demands that the same needs immediate attention.
Quoting WHO report, he said maximum dog bites have taken place in Srinagar during 2011-12 and 2012 and 13.
BJP’s Choudhary Sukhnandan demanded that road from Niki Tawi to Makwal needed immediate attention and the problems created by school buses in some parts of his Constituency be eased by taking corrective measures. He also demanded attention towards Mishriwala -Jhri road and vegetable growers of his Constituency.
PDP’s Rafiq Ahmed Mir said that those who had framed the Pahalgam plan in 2005 violated it. He suggested involvement of foreign consultants in framing plans for Gulmarg and Pahalgam. He expressed concern over shortage of staff in municipalities and demanded that the wages problem be solved.
Irfan Shah of NC demanded renovation and construction of roads in his Batmaloo Constituency. He also stressed dewatering in some areas of Batmaloo Constituency.
Nasir Aslam Wani stressed that handicrafts be given impetus while Peer Mansoor of PDP said that the Rangrajan Committee report on shifting of Srinagar city was not implemented till date. He also highlighted the problem of Shangus people and sought justice for them.
Prof Garu Ram said that RS Pura where maximum people belong to down trodden communities face insanitation problem as there is no proper system of drainage.
Indu Pawar of Congress stressed that the Group Housing Scheme of Gandhi Nagar, Jammu be extended to entire State.
Bimla Luthra, Javed Dar, Krishan Chander, Abdul Haq, Haqim Mohamed Yasin and Ashok Kumar also participated in the discussions.
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