Early Times Report
Jammu, June 17: There's no end to discrimination against Jammu province even during the ongoing President's rule in the state.
Take for instance, the attitude of JKEDI towards the unemployed and educated youth of Jammu. The JKEDI was established by the government of Jammu and Kashmir in March 1997 to effectively enable entrepreneurship development in the state, and since then it has been largely delivering on its agenda, but the beneficiaries mostly belong to a particular province of the state.
Sources say the last steering committee meeting of the JKEDI was held in Jammu province in November-December 2018 and since then no meeting of the committee has been held.
Sources disclosed that JKEDI announced the date of steering committee meet as June 7 for Kashmir and June 12 for Jammu province. "However, it's very unfortunate that Kashmir's steering committee meet was held in time and several cases were approved, while Jammu province's unemployed youngsters await for the steering committee meeting which was postponed or cancelled without any reason," said sources, adding that no fresh date has been announced yet.
Over 400 youngsters have applied for loan under JKEDI. An unemployed youth said, "We have fulfilled all formalities, arranged shops on rent, spent money for obtaining NOCs from different departments as fees. We had hoped after June 12, our problems would be resolved. We have been given rent from last two months despite being unemployed, while on the other hand the JKEDI is playing a joke with us and ruining our career."
She added that if the Kashmir steering committee meet was held in time, why is the meeting was delay for Jammu province. "It indicates how the JKEDI is discriminating against the youths of Jammu province," she said.
No senior official of the JKEDI was available for comment despite repeated attempts to reach them. |
