Reduced to rubber stamp: Srinagar DDC chief

Aftab Malik, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party leader and chairperson of Srinagar’s district development council (DDC), on Thursday complained that they had been reduced to “rubber stamps” and asked the government to involve the elected representatives in the battle against the pandemic.

Malik was elected to the 14-member council in Srinagar, one of the 20 councils set up as the third tier of the panchayati raj system in the union territory. The eight-phase election to the DDCs in November-December 2020 was described as a “new chapter” in Jammu and Kashmir’s history. Aftab Malik said it was not even close.

“In the last five months, we have not been able to initiate a single developmental work. My members and I feel that we are mere rubber stamps,” Aftab Malik, who is mostly confined to a room at Srinagar’s circuit house, his new home due to security considerations, said.

Tariq Ahmad, director in the rural development department, said it was wrong to say that the DDCs weren’t involved in the fight against Covid.

Ahmad said funds for the district development councils come from the capital expenditure budget which is prepared by respective deputy commissioners. “Every council is supposed to get ₹ 10 crore through CAPEX budget. I don’t know why the Srinagar DDC hasn’t got money released yet.”

“The new setup for Covid, which will come up in every panchayat will get the money from the panchayat funds only,” he said, a reference to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s direction to set up five Covid beds, including one with oxygen in every panchayat.