Speed up restoration work of historic sites, Apni Party urges govt

Apni Party president Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari on Tuesday appealed to the government to speed up the restoration work of the historic sites, particularly Dogra Palace- Mubarak Mandi and promote tourism with a motive to protect the interest of the business community and tourism sector in Jammu.

Bukhari was speaking at a programme here wherein several women from RS Pura and a sarpanch, Ashok Kumar, besides two panchs joined the Apni Party. He said the historic Dogra Palace is still being renovated at a very slow pace and the artificial lake project has yet to see light of the day in Jammu.

“If the Apni Party comes to power, it will hold a probe as to why the renovation work of Mubarak Mandi complex was delayed for years and why Jammu tourism was not promoted,” he added.

While welcoming women members into the Apni Party, he hoped that the party would be strengthened at the grassroots in Jammu.

He said, “We support empowerment of women politically, socially, economically and educationally. We have provided a platform to the women leaders to work for the welfare of women folk.” He said that if his party comes to power, it will give Rs 1 lakh as marriage assistance to the poor and needy women, enhance the widow pension/old-age pension up to Rs 5,000 and ensure four cooking gas cylinders in a year under the Ujjwala scheme.

He also referred to the issues faced by the people of Jammu in absence of an elected government and said that Jammu has become a victim of divisive campaigns launched by the traditional political parties, especially the BJP, that has ultimately hit the development, business and tourism sector.

“The development never remained on the agenda of traditional political parties,” Bukhari said and appealed to the people to extend support to the Apni Party for equitable development of Jammu and Kashmir regions without any discrimination.