Militancy down, red tape stunting growth: J&K officials to House pane

Officials in the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh told the visiting parliamentary panel on home affairs that militancy was at an all-time low and that there have been no instances of stone pelting even as they expressed concern about the development of Ladakh and many new schemes announced by the Union government being affected by bureaucratic delays.

“Many concerns were raised by different stakeholders,” said a person familiar with events and discussions during the panel’s visit to the state. “Both the UTS are waiting for development that has been hampered by a bureaucratisation of the process and a monopoly over releasing funds,” added this person who asked not to be named.

In its five-day long visit to the two UTS between August 17 to 21, the panel also visited Jammu, something such panels have rarely done in the past. The panel met with officials from the Central Reserve Police Force,

Border Security Force, the administration of both UTS and industry leaders. It will compile a report for Parliament regarding the concerns raised, the person cited above said. The panel’s chairperson and Congress leader Anand Sharma and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rakesh Sinha also met industry leaders in Jammu .

A second person familiar with the panel’s visit said that in Srinagar, the CRPF camp the panel visited was in shambles. “There were no toilet facilities and nearly five people were sharing a room,” the person said. “Moreover, the officers wanted the panel to intervene to improve the living conditions and also raise the standard of the food.”

This person claimed that only ₹117 was allocated for food per person per day. “That is barely enough for one good meal,” the person said.

A CRPF spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Administration officials informed the panel that militancy was at an all-time low and there had been no stone pelting incident in the last six months.

According to data shared by the home ministry in Parliament in March this year, terror attacks in the region have come down from 614 in 2018 to only 244 in 2020. Similarly, stone pelting incidents have come down from 1,458 in 2018 to 327 last year.

With the BSF, the panel travelled to the India-pakistan border.

“The road was in terrible shape, and it took nearly 25 minutes to traverse 3 kilometers,” the first person said. “In a tense situation, the army has to mobilise in a short period of time. The roads have to be improved.”

NS Jamwal, inspector general, BSF, informed the panel about the threats being faced on Jammu International Border, ranging from tunnelling, smuggling and stand of fire by Pakistani troops.

“A special emphasis was given to the threat posed by Pakistani drones abetting smuggling of weapons/narcotics from across the border,” BSF said in a statement.

“The committee was made aware of the challenges faced by BSF troops due to rainy season, foggy weather and high-altitude related problems. Jamwal gave a glimpse of BSF bo infrastructure covering var aspects like requirement of connectivity up to border posts, 24 hours uninterru supply of electricity and c piped drinking water to BOPS.”

In Ladakh, ”stakeholder the newly formed UT urged panel to help in the releas funds for the developmen Ladakh that they said were b under-utilized,” the first pe said.

In Ladakh, the panel met trict officials and BJP MP Ja ang Tsering Namgyal. “The resentative sought help from panel for greater say in plann implementation and devolu of financial powers,” said first person.

HT reached out to Nam who did not respond to a req for comment.

The panel also heard cerns regarding corruption regionalism in both the U territories. “There will be a c prehensive review after w the panel will prepare a re for the parliament,” the sec person said.