Avtar Bhat
KISHTWAR, Nov 24: Unlike last Lok Sabha elections, there seems to be no polarization during the Assembly elections in two Assembly segments of this district, which is going to polls tomorrow.
For the people in these twin constituencies of Kishtwar and Inderwal, development is the main issue for electorate and they are ready to vote and align with any party which ensures better development of this hilly belt where the fate of 10 candidates will be sealed in EVMs tomorrow. They included, Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo of NC, Sunil Sharma of BJP, Firdos Tak of PDP, Naik Ram Manhas of Congress and independents.
Political parties are not a matter for the people this time, but they want development on all fronts in which Kishtwar district is far behind, says Gulab Kraiypak, a social activist and a member of civil society of the area.
“This is a positive sign that there is no polarization of voters this time as was seen during the Lok Sabha elections and people from both the communities are discussing parties and candidates on the basis of their past track record and performance. They will also vote accordingly”, he added.
“The development of the area has dominated all other issues,” said Shamsher Singh Bhandari another social activist. The people want to vote for the Party which ensures better development and takes prompt steps to tap up the water resources in this hilly belt for power generation.
The Chenab Valley has a capacity of generating 20,000 mws of power and people want that these resources be tapped properly as this will not only help in employment generation but also make the State self sufficient in power generation and boost the economy of the people of the area, he added.
“The greatest resentment among the people is that the successive Governments have failed to tap up these natural resources of water for electricity generation,” said Sanjay Parihar a social activist. He said the work on Ratlay Project was started some years back but later it was abandoned due to certain controversies. Besides, no steps were taken up for the construction of other major power projects in the twin districts of Doda and Kishtwar, he added.
“In Mata village adjoining Kishtwar township, people have a lot of resentment against the Government which failed to provide compensation to those land owners whose land was acquired for the airport near Parade Ground Kishtwar,” said Mohinder Singh Rana a local resident.
Besides, the total neglect of the area which sans the road connectivity, faces water scarcity and power cuts, poor health care system and insanitation are other issues dominating the campaigning this time, he said, adding in village Mata there is no proper road connectivity and for the carriage of a truck load of stones purchased for Rs 3000, people have to pay Rs 3000 more for head load to carry it to Mata village as there is no proper road connectivity.
“The polarization started in Kishtwar in 2008 elections when two communities clashed with each other,” said Farooq Ahmed Tapal, another social activist. Its ugly face was witnessed last year on the festival of Eid and two communities were at loggerheads with each other since then.
But a ray of hope has generated that this time people will vote for development, without any caste, creed and colour considerations. This will be a positive change, he added.
The development issue is also dominating Inderwal Assembly segment where the fate of 12 candidates will be decided tomorrow including G A Saroori of Congress, Tariq Ahmed Keen of BJP, Abdul Majid Bhat of PDP and Abdul Salam -ud-Din of NC and some independents.
The people will vote on the basis of past performance of the parties and merits of candidates, said Firdos Hussain of Drabshala. He said water scarcity, bad condition of roads and many other vital issues confront the people and they will only cast their vote in favour of the Party and candidate who will strive for settling these issues.
Meanwhile, the administration has fully geared up to conduct smooth elections tomorrow.
According to District Development Commissioner, Kishtwar Mohammed Javed Khan, adequate security arrangements have been made in entire district.
He said poll parties have reached their respective polling stations. One hundred polling stations are hyper sensitive in the district while 129 are sensitive and 45 are normal.
He said the magistrates have been appointed to maintain law and order while Micro observers have also been deployed.
Follow our WhatsApp channel