Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, July 5: Notwithstanding the clear directions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the monitoring of schemes being executed along the India-Pakistan and India-China borders under Border Area Development Programme (BADP) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has remained abysmally very slow in Jammu and Kashmir. Due to this, the inhabitants of the border areas are raising eyebrows with regard to the quality of work.
According to the official document available with EXCELSIOR, the concerned authorities of Jammu and Kashmir have been paying scant regard to the important aspect of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines relating to monitoring of the works being executed on India-Pakistan and India-China borders.
While launching BADP scheme, the Government of India had laid much emphasis on the regular monitoring of the works so as to ensure quality of the work that too up to the expectations of the inhabitants of the border areas.
On the directions of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Jammu and Kashmir Government had during the year 2012-13 launched Android based mobile application called “JKPULSE” for effective monitoring of the BADP works by all the concerned authorities, sources said.
The objective behind the launch of the Android based mobile application was to ensure inspection of works with real time updating of data and pictures having geo coordinates (latitude and longitude) and time and date stamps.
In order to ensure effective use of this Android based mobile application, all the concerned officers including the District Development Commissioners of border districts were provided with Samsung mobile.
The Department of Planning and Development, J&K Government vide Order No.22 dated March 1, 2013 even issued directions for strict compliance by all the concerned while ensuring monitoring of BADP projects through Android based mobile application (JKPULSE), sources informed.
As per these directions, the respective District Development Commissioners were required to ensure implementation of application in their respective districts through implementing agencies and field level officials—BDOs, XEns and AEEs etc
Through this order, all the field officers responsible for executing the BADP programme were directed to make mandatory visits to the work sites and take the photograph of work through the mobile application before commencement of work and periodically update it by depicting the physical and financial progress.
It was also made it clear through this order that performance of officers in implementing this monitoring mechanism at each level will be reflected in their APRs, sources said.
Shockingly, neither the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs nor the order of Planning and Development Department of J&K are being adhered to by the concerned authorities, they said.
This can be gauged from the official document available with EXCELSIOR, which indicates that inspection of only 872 schemes under BADP was carried out by the concerned authorities against total 4121 ongoing works in Jammu and Kashmir along the Indo-Pak and Indo-China border.
In Bandipora district, inspection of only 3 schemes has been carried out against total 60 going on in the border areas while as in Baramulla, only 36 schemes were inspected against a total of 303.
Similarly, concerned authorities have 211 out of 599 schemes in Jammu, only one out of 143 in Kargil, 51 against 255 in Kathua, 10 against 914 in Kupwara, 40 against 435 in Leh, 142 against 461 in Poonch, 286 against 609 in Rajouri and 77 against 318 in Samba.
“Due to very slow inspection of the BADP schemes, eyebrows are being raised by the inhabitants of the border areas”, sources said, adding “they (inhabitants of border areas) are of the saying that in the absence of proper inspection poor quality of work is being executed and they are being deprived of the benefits of the scheme of Ministry of Home Affairs”.
Taking serious note of very slow progress in inspection of BADP schemes, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as well as Screening Committee of Jammu and Kashmir Government has directed the District Development Commissioners to get the inspections expedited so that quality of the work is ensured and the objective behind BADP is achieved.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 5: Is Budgam a border district and entitled for the benefits under the Central scheme designed especially for the areas located along the International Border and Line of Control/Line of Actual Control?
This question has arisen in the light of the fact that Budgam district, which came into existence in 1979 and was part of Srinagar district prior to that, is getting benefits of Border Area Development Programme (BADP) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Actually, district Budgam borders four other districts— Baramulla and Srinagar in North, Pulwama in South and Poonch in South West and does not share border with any of the neighboring countries. “This was done at the behest of some influential politicians”, sources remarked.
At present, 13 schemes are going on under BADP in some areas of Budgam district at an estimated cost of Rs 9.97 crore. An amount of Rs 2.73 crore has been incurred on these works till date and an amount of Rs 7.24 crore is required to complete the same.

Mohinder Verma
When the Ramban district was carved out of the erstwhile Doda district on April 1, 2007 keeping in view the backwardness and remoteness of this vast hilly terrain, there was massive jubilation among the people in both the Assembly segments of the district-Ramban and Banihal. There was all justification behind the euphoria as creation of independent administrative unit after a long struggle was directly associated with redressal of developmental related grievances of the people.
The district assumes much importance because it shares its boundaries with Reasi, Udhampur, Doda, Anantnag and Kulgam districts and about 95-kilometer of National Highway 1A connecting Jammu and Srinagar runs through district Ramban.
The inhabitants of Banihal Assembly segment were more excited about the creation of district because of the constituency being the last destination of the Jammu region towards the Kashmir valley and having more difficult and rugged terrain as compared to the Ramban Assembly segment.
However, jubilation has faded with the passage of the time not because the development related grievances of the people have been redressed but due to the fact that majority of the grievances have remained un-addressed and people don’t feel any change on ground following the creation of new district.
Contrary to the general perception that a good public representative is always a boon to the society, the inhabitants of numerous areas of the Banihal Assembly constituency, whom this EXCELSIOR Correspondent interacted with during the random survey, are of the opinion that the sitting MLA from the area, Vikar Rasool Wani, who is also the Minister of State for Power, could not bring any perceptible change in major parts of the constituency during the past more than five and half years. They said that only some selected areas, which the Minister considers as his vote bank, have received his fullest attention in all sectors.
The common masses have long list of grievances. Be it education, health and road or drinking water and electricity sectors they have only grievances, which according to them have not received the due attention of their elected representative.
For any constituency like Banihal, which is mostly spread over hilly terrain, road connectivity assumes much importance because network of road is needed to reach schools and health institutions. Moreover, it improves economic condition of the people. But large number of habitations are still unconnected compelling the people to tread rugged terrain to reach their destinations.
Take the example of roads taken up in the constituency under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), a flagship scheme of the Union Government. A total of 16 roads under this scheme were taken up in Banihal constituency about four-five years back but barring one or two all others remain incomplete despite the fact that these roads were required to be completed within stipulated time-frame strictly as per the guidelines of the scheme.
“The work on the PMGSY roads is being carried out at very slow pace and despite bringing this to the notice of the MLA no step has so far been taken to gear up the work”, a shopkeeper at Nachlana namely Zalal-ud-Din said while interacting with the visiting EXCELSIOR Correspondent. “The work on project to provide road connectivity to Mahu Mangat area, which was started in 2010, has yet not been completed and MLA is also responsible for the same because he could not get the work expedited”, he added.
Another shopkeeper, Mohd Salim said, “several years back we had projected the demand of providing road link to Manjos area but to of no avail”, adding “in the absence of road network, we are finding it difficult to timely shift the ailing persons to the health centres. The situation is that sometimes the critical patients die before being shifted to health centres in the absence of road connectivity”.
Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Khari, who was waiting for passenger vehicle to reach his destination, said, “Khari to Mahu and Banihal to Mangat roads, which were taken up several years back, have yet not been completed although slow pace of work was brought to the notice of MLA a number of times”.
Substantiating that there was no focus on providing road network to the unconnected habitations,  Parvez Ahmad, a resident of Mahu, who was incidentally in Banihal town for some sort of personal work, said, “Mahu Mangat area has no road connectivity despite the fact that it lies at a distance of 12 kilometers from the road side in Banihal tehsil”.
Similarly, Neel area too lacks road connectivity despite the fact that a number of representations were made by the people to the MLA. According to the people, work on Kharkoot to Zabaan road and Nowgam to Danner Road, which was started with much fanfare by the MLA in the month of June last year, was going on at a snail’s pace and they were not expecting road connectivity in near future.
What to talk of construction of new roads even the condition of the existing roads is deplorable in the constituency with no attention from the concerned department or the MLA. “The roads get damaged due to snowfall every year but their maintenance doesn’t receive any focus”, a commuter Irfan Ahmad said at Banihal town.
Notwithstanding the official records, the power scenario in the constituency also paints a grim picture as large number of hamlets have yet not been electrified despite the fact that MLA of the area is holding the portfolio of Power Development Department.
“Parts of village Khari, Sumaharha, Shagan, Mangit, Mahu, Neel, Bhata, Kudawah and Sumber of Banihal and Ramsoo blocks have yet not been electrified thereby putting a question mark on the performance of MLA in this sector too”, said a social worker, while wishing anonymity on the ground of being victimized by the supporters of the MLA.
“The people of these areas are still living in stone age that too at a time when the Minister of State for Power is from this constituency”, he said, adding “the Minister only believes in upgrading transformers under some Centrally sponsored schemes and then taking credit of the same by cutting the ribbons”.
Expressing concern over shortage of teachers and doctors in the schools and health centres, Ghulam Nabi of Shagan said, “there are only two teachers in High School Shagan for 280 students”, adding “even there is acute shortage of teachers in Higher Secondary School Khari but MLA has not taken any step to overcome this deficiency despite being made aware about the situation”.
“There is also acute shortage of subject teachers in various schools of the constituency as a result of which students are unable to prepare themselves for the examinations”, Sonaullah of Sarbagni said while disclosing that recently the scores of students held a protest demonstration on the National Highway over shortage of staff in the schools.
Following the protest, the Chief Education Officer had assured to provide subject teachers in the schools but till date situation has not improved although after the protest a deputation had also called on the MLA, he further said.
A retired Master, Om Parkash of Ramsoo, while drawing the attention towards the High School of the area said, “this school was opened 42 years back but till date it has not been upgraded despite repeated representations to the MLA”, adding “for higher education the students have the options of visiting Khari or Ukhral. To visit Khari, they are required to change two vehicles despite the tall claims of the MLA that education facilities have been provided to the people at their door steps”.
About the health sector, people said, “the situation can be gauged from the condition of Sub-District Hospital Banihal and Primary Health Centre Ramsoo”, adding “what to talk of opening dispensaries in deserving areas even no focus was paid on providing adequate staff in the existing institutions”.
“All the health institutions have become referral centres in the absence of adequate manpower and equipment”, Javed Iqbal of Ramsoo said, adding “if the MLA cannot play role in providing basic facilities to the people what else is expected from him”.
About the interaction of the MLA with the common masses, there was a general view point that their representative has confined his interactions with the selected Sarpanchs and Panchs and his visits remained confined to some selected areas instead of being broad-based. In many parts of the constituency, people were found unaware of the schemes of Sericulture, Horticulture and Animal Husbandry Departments as no efforts were made by their MLA to generate awareness about the activities of these departments.
Resentment was also noticed among the people about failure of their elected representative to get skilled labourers of the constituency engaged by the companies executing major projects in road, tunnel and railway sectors. “Whenever we approached the MLA with the request to ensure employment to the local youth in these projects, he only gave assurance and during the last five and half years he has not played any positive role in this regard”, a technically trained youth Sadiq Ali said at Banihal town.
The detailed survey by the EXCELSIOR revealed that in all the five priority sectors-roads, health, education, power and water the people have only the long list of grievances to project than the performance of the MLA.
When contacted after repeated attempts, MLA Banihal, Vikar Rasool Wani confessed the inordinate delay in completion of PMGSY roads. “Mandatory formalities like forest clearance take time and now the work is going on at the required pace”, he claimed, adding “even tough terrain is responsible for delay or slow pace of work on such roads”.
About the grievances of people with regard to shortage of staff in schools and health centres, Mr Wani, who is also Minister of State for Power and Technical Education, said, “this problem is everywhere in the State and not confined to my constituency only. Anyhow, I tried my level best to provide staff”, adding “recently Lecturers were provided in the Khari Higher Secondary School”.
Mr Wani refused to answer other queries relating to public opinion about his performance and said, “I am surrounded by several people at present and will try to spare time to speak on the subject”.

NEW DELHI, July 5: The issue of price rise is likely to generate heat in Budget Session of Parliament beginning from Monday with Opposition members today making a strong pitch for a discussion over it in both Houses at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
The Government will also be making a statement in both Houses on the condition of Indians in war-torn Iraq, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said after the luncheon meeting.
“We will be taking up the general budget, railway budget and also willing to discuss any issue of national importance…The Government will also make a statement on the situation of Indians in Iraq. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make the statement in both Houses,” Naidu said.
Leaders of various parties wanted price rise, rail hike and also the plight of Tamil fishermen to be discussed in the over a month-long session, which concludes on August 14.
The Speaker steered clear of all questions on the issue of granting Leader of Opposition status to the Congress, saying the meeting she had convened was to discuss the business before the House.
“The session will have 28 sittings and 168 working hours. Since the Standing Committees for various Ministries are yet to be constituted, the demands for grants for various Ministries will be passed by both Houses by July 31 after discussion in Parliament instead of the committees,” she said.
Naidu said the Government is ready for a discussion on any issue and appealed to the Opposition to “cooperate”  to ensure that the decorum and dignity of Parliament is maintained and the House business was carried out smoothly.
The Government also intends to bring bills to replace the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 and the Ordinance with respect to Polavaram project under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.
TRAI (Amendment) Ordinance cleared on May 28 ensured that the Government could appoint Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The AP ordinance was promulgated on May 29, ahead of the official division of the State on June 2.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP patriarch L K Advani also attended the lunch but were not present in the meeting.
Naidu said that Commerce Ministry will be bringing a bill on the National Institute of Design.
Various pending bills will be reviewed and priority will be fixed on bringing them before Parliament in coordination with Opposition members, he added.
Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee said the first issue that should be taken after the presentation of the rail and general budgets is price rise and the situation caused by hike in rail fare and freight.
The Government also came in under attack on the issue of federalism. “Though the Government is saying on the floor of the House that they have great respect for federalism but in essence and effect we don’t see the sign of such federalism,” Banerjee said, citing letters by various Ministers to states.
Expressing displeasure over the Trinamool Congress not being given a room suitable to its strength in Parliament House, Banerjee demanded that the principal of allotment of time for discussion on the basis of strength to parties should also be applied in granting office space.
Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that issue of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) status was not raised in the all-party meeting.
The Speaker said that the meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere and everybody promised cooperation.
“Government is willing to give full time to discuss any issue. They are ready to discuss every issue. Different suggestions have come and they will be decided after the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee,” she said.
Mahajan also said that Lok Sabha proceedings this session will have a new feature where the picture of members speaking will be shown on the screen to enable all members sitting even on front benches to see those speaking from the rear benches.
Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, BJD’s Bhartuhari Mahtab, CPI-M’s P Karunakaran and SP’s Dharmendra Yadav were among others who were present at today’s meeting.
From the Government’s side, Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar and Santosh Gangwar and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan were also present. (PTI)

KOCHI, July 5: Forty-six nurses, who were held captive by ISIS militants in Iraq, today returned home by a special Air India flight to a happy reunion with their families here, bringing to an end their about month-long ordeal.
The special aircraft, which also had on board about 137 others, touched down the tarmac at the Kochi International Airport at 11.57 am, a senior airport official said.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy whose coordinated effort with the Union Government that ensured liberty to nurses from his State, besides another who hails from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu received them at the airport.
Family members of nurses, on whose face a sigh of relief was writ large had assembled in large numbers to see their beloved ones return and were joined by political leaders from BJP and Congress at the airport.
The ordeal of the nurses, who were working at a hospital in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, began when ISIS (Islamic State for Iraq and Syria) militants launched an offensive in that region on June nine.
Even as Indian authorities continued to maintain constant touch with their counterparts at Iraq for safe release of nurses, they were moved out on Thursday against their will and detained in the militant-held city of Mosul.
Efforts by External Affairs Ministry led to setting free the nurses held in captivity and they were transported in buses to Erbil International airport yesterday.
The Special Flight that left Erbil in the early hours of today arrived at Mumbai for a brief stop over for refuelling and catering supplies.
Besides the nurses, the flight also carried 137 other Indian nationals, including 70 from Kirkuk in the northern part of Iraq, 23 crew members and three Government officials, including a joint-secretary level IFS officer and an IAS woman officer from Kerala.
Chandy thanked the Centre, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian Embassy in Iraq and MEA for ensuring the return of nurses from strife-hit Iraq.
“The Centre has acted in complete understanding of the deep anxieties of Kerala. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Iraq have made sincere efforts in securing release of the nurses,” Chandy told reporters here.
Kerala Government has made arrangements to enable nurses to reach their respective destinations across the State.(PTI)