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| Opposition in K to allocation of funds to Jammu unwarranted | | Central Road fund | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 27: Vested interests in Kashmir have upped their ante on Jammu and accused the authorities of giving a preferential treatment to Jammu as far as allocation of funds under the Central Road Fund head is concerned. The Central Road Fund is a key road building scheme funded by the Government of India. "Jammu has walked away with the lion's share of Central Road Fund," vested interests in Kashmir have said.
According to official sources, an amount of Rs 347 crore was recently approved by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for road projects under CRF. Jammu was allotted Rs 205 crore and Kashmir's Rs 142 crore. It was this allocation that didn't go well with the anti-Jammu elements in the Valley. "Surprisingly, the unfair treatment has been meted out to the Valley despite the fact that J&K's coalition partners -- Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party --have pledged 'equitable' and 'balanced' development of all three regions of the State in their 'Agenda of Alliance', the framework guiding the working of the government," anti-Jammu elements in Kashmir said while condemning the authorities' what they called preferential treatment to Jammu. "Going by the population, Kashmir should get 20 to 30 per cent funds more than Jammu. But it is unfair that Jammu has been allocated Rs 63 crore more than the Valley where road infrastructure has been badly damaged by the last year's floods," they further said.
Roads are the lifeline of any region or any state. No one can expect its development without a proper road network. The figures as contained in the Report of the Task Force on development of Jammu and Kashmir show the extent to which the State Government has ignored Jammu in this very vital sphere. This Task Force was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006. According to it, the total road length in Kashmir in 2006 was 7129 kilometers. In contrast, the road length in Jammu was 4571 kilometers. In other words, the road density km / sq km in Kashmir and Jammu was 310.4 and 138.7, respectably. It's no wonder that most of the towns and villages in the Jammu's mountainous and hilly areas are inaccessible.
The charge of the anti-Jammu elements in Kashmir that the road connectivity in the Valley is very poor as compared to Jammu, which has a land area almost two-time bigger than the highly developed Kashmir Valley, is ill-designed and unwarranted. The truth is otherwise.
Roads are the lifeline of any region or any state. No one can expect its development without a proper road network. The figures as contained in the Report of the Task Force on development of Jammu and Kashmir show the extent to which the State Government has ignored Jammu in this very vital sphere. This Task Force was constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006. According to it, the total road length in Kashmir in 2006 was 7129 kilometers. In contrast, the road length in Jammu was 4571 kilometers. In other words, the road density km / sq km in Kashmir and Jammu was 310.4 and 138.7, respectably. It's no wonder that most of the towns and villages in the Jammu's mountainous and hilly areas are inaccessible.
Take, for example, the startling story of road connectivity in Jammu province as revealed by the Task Force. It revealed that the erstwhile Doda district in Jammu province, which had a land area of 11,691 sq km, had road length of 613 km. This means that per sq km road density in Doda district to which former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, belongs was just 5.2 km. In Poonch district, the per sq km road density was 13 km as it had a land area of 1,674 sq km and road length of 217 km. As for erstwhile Udhampur district, the per sq km road density was 15.8 km as it had an area of 4,550 sq km and a road length of 719 km. In Rajouri district, the per sq km road density was 19.4 km. This district had a land area of 2,630 sq km and road length of 511 km. As for Kathua district, it was 29.5 km. Kathua had an area of 2,651 sq km and road length of 782 km. The erstwhile Jammu district was somewhat lucky. Here the per sq km road density was 55.8 km. The land area of Jammu district was 3,097 sq km and the road length 1,729 km.
All this shows neglect of Jammu province in the sense that the per sq km road density in this province, which contributes more than 70 per cent revenue to the state exchequer every year, was as low as 5.75 km. The position of Ladakh was even worse. Here the per sq km road density was 3.7 km. It may be noted that the Leh and Kargil districts had land areas of 45,110 sq km and 14,036 sq km and road length of 1,164 km and 676 km, respectively.
On the other hand, in Kashmir, the per sq km road density was as high as nearly 49 km in 2006, as against the Jammu's 5.75 km and Ladakh's 3.7 km. It is not an exaggeration.
The erstwhile Anantnag district had a land area of 3,984 sq km and 1,328 km of road length. That means that per sq km road density in this district was 33.3 km. In the erstwhile Pulwama district, the per sq km road density was 62.8 as it had 1,398 sq km area and 878 km road length. The per sq km road density in the erstwhile Srinagar district was 64 km. It had a land area of 2228 sq km and road length of 1425 km. Budgam district, like Pulwama and Srinagar districts, was highly privileged. In this district the road density per sq km was as high as 81.8 km as it had an area of 1,371 sq km and road length of 1,122 km. As for erstwhile Baramulla and Kupwara districts, the per sq km road density was 33.9 km and 34.6 km, respectively. The Baramulla district had 4,588 sq km of land area and 1,553 km of road length and Kupwara district 2,379 sq km of land area and 823 km of road length. (Development of Jammu and Kashmir Growth Generating Initiatives, Government of India, New Delhi, November 2006, p. 14). It needs to be noted that both these districts were basically ethnically non-Kashmiri. |
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