Ground reality belies BJP govt’s claims of development in J&K, says PAGD
SRINAGAR: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration on Friday said the ground situation in the union territory (UT) belies the BJP government’s claims of development post-abrogation of special status of J&K.
The PAGD in a statement said the claims of the BJP government that the abrogation of Article 370 has paved way for new industries, created new employment opportunities, decreased terror incidents, brought atmosphere of peace and security, nurtured democracy, eradicated corruption, and brought new central laws for betterment of people in this region are nothing but “concocted and fabricated” stories while the ground situation belies these claims.
“The claims in a recently released report by the Union home ministry are far from the reality. The reality is that there is a systematic disempowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that is continuing to happen through bureaucratic rule,” PAGD spokesperson MY Tarigami said.
He said the projects mentioned in the booklet are mostly approved by the previous governments, but shown to have been the outcome of abrogation of Article 370.
“On November 7, 2015, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had in Srinagar announced a reconstruction programme during the PDP-BJP coalition government of about ₹80,000 crore, known as the Prime Minister’s Development Package, to strengthen the social-economic infrastructure of Jammu & Kashmir. It is claimed that after the reorganisation of the erstwhile state, 53 projects of ₹58,477 crore in J&K and nine projects worth ₹21,441 crore in Ladakh are under progress which are the part of the PM’S 2015 package. How can you attribute this progress to abrogation of Article 370?” he asked.
He said that the BJP government was boasting of implementation of various laws, like Land Reforms and the RTI Act, which were claimed to have been effective now.
“This is a blatant lie as the state of Jammu and Kashmir was a pioneer in implementing the revolutionary land reforms laws which no other state had done, except Kerala to some extent. Similarly, the erstwhile state’s own RTI Act was stronger than the Union law. Its repeal when Article 370 was read down has led to chaos and complications. Without knowing the facts of the matter, BJP leaders had maintained that the people of J&K had no access to information under the RTI Act until Article 370 was read down,” he added.