Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Feb 10: The Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) candidates were elected chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of District Development Councils (DDCs) in Ganderbal and Pulwama districts today.
PDP candidate Syed Bari Andrabi was elected as chairperson of the DDC of Pulwama while Mukhtar Bandh (NC) has been elected as vice chairman. Bari got 9 votes and his rival and Independent candidate Javed Rahim Bhat got 4 votes.
NC candidate Bandh who was elected vice-chairperson secured 9 votes and Minha Lateef who won on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Kakapora secured four votes.
The PAGD win was certain as they had majority DDC members in the district with PDP having 7 DDC members, NC 2, BJP 1 and Independents 4.
One of the candidates and PDP leader Waheedur Rehman Parra didn’t participate in the polls as he has been jailed since last year. He was arrested by NIA last year soon after he filed nominations for the DDC elections. The PDP candidate got 8 votes of PDP and NC and one of the Independents.
Soon after becoming chairperson of the DDC Pulwama, Bari told reporters that he will work for the equitable development of the district.
“You know the DDCs were created under Panchayat Raj Act and the mandate of these councils is rural development. Since I am from the same area, we will see where the development is lacking and would work on these sectors. But it all is dependent on the availability of funds. We will work for equitable development of every village and area. This has a separate fund channel and we hope there will be enough funds for the development”, he said.
District Panchayat Election Officer (DPEO) Dr. Raghav Langer said that 13 elected members participated in the election. He said that the whole process of the election to the chairperson and vice-chairperson positions of the DDC Pulwama was conducted smoothly.
Later, the Deputy Commissioner also administered oath of office to the newly elected chairperson and vice chairperson in a brief ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, the DPEO said that with the functioning of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system, the pace of development in rural areas will now gain new momentum and it will act as a watershed in the realm of grassroots level development.
National Conference (NC) candidate Nuzhat Ishfaq was elected as the chairperson of DDC Ganderbal, while Bilal Ahmad Sheikh of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was elected as vice chairman DDC Ganderbal.
Nuzhat polled 9 votes while her rival Tasmeena polled 5. In Ganderbal district, PAGD had 11 DDC members with NC 7 and PDP 4. However, they are now left with 10 members only as one of the PDP members Tasleema Aadil resigned from the basic membership of the party ahead of polling. Another PDP member did cross voting and voted against the NC candidate.
Bilal Ahmed Sheikh of PDP who was elected vice-chairperson secured eight votes while his opponent Abdul Rashid Bhat got six votes.
The newly appointed chairperson of DDC Ganderbal Nuzhat Ishfaq told Excelsior that she will take all the DDC members along and will work for the betterment of people of the district. She said that lot of work needs to be done and the areas which are lagging behind will also be brought under development map.
“We will work for the people. People here need better roads, better water supply and children need better education for which we will strive for”, she said.
She said that there is lot of potential for tourism in the area and development of tourist infrastructure will be given priority.
While speaking on occasion, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ganderbal, Shafqat Iqbal expressed hope that with the establishment of three tier Panchayat Raj Institution, the developmental process at grassroots level will get further boost adding that Government has empowered Panchayats through devolution of powers and funds.
Later, the DC administered oath to both the newly elected chairperson and vice-chairperson. Among others the meeting was attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal, Dy DEO, Dy CEO Ganderbal and other concerned.
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