Bashir Assad
Jammu, Feb 17: Execution of Afzal Guru might have confronted Omar government with numerous problems, yet the issue might prove to be saviour for the coalition government in the upcoming budget session as it would dissuade the attention of the opposition from serious charges of corruption against several ministers of Omar government.
The National Conference-Congress coalition government which according to insiders was very much scared in facing the opposition in the forthcoming budget session of the legislature because of the serious corruption against its ministers, is now a little bit relieved, for, the session may be dominated by the execution issue.
But the list of scandals during the current fiscal is so exhaustive that opposition can hardly make mention of all the scandals in the house even if it understands the tricks of the NC-Cong coalition of engaging the opposition in some sort of emotive issue to divert its attention from the main issues of governance and corruption. without going into the details of alleged strategic importance of Guru's execution, back home the stage was set for rounding up the coalition government during the crucial budget session of the state legislature and one has to see whether there is change of mood in the opposition circles in the aftermath of Guru's execution.
Though yet another scandal of land grabbing by a high profile coalition politician is likely to surface in the coming days as this newspaper is in the process of ascertaining the facts about the alleged land grabbing by a senior LC leader at Sidhra in Jammu, the number of already surfaced scandals was likely to take a heavy toll on the credibility of the NC led coalition government in the state during the forthcoming budget session.
The Sedav Forest land grabbing, Rajouri PHE scam, CCDU scam, 2300 illegal appointments in Health department, Bandipora Municipal Committee scam, allotment of contract to the son of a senior minister in Srinagar Municipal Corporation without following the codal procedure, allotment of contract to the scam person by JKPCC for construction of multi-story assembly complex in Jammu and the subsequent damage caused to the heritage assembly complex in the digging, MGNREGA scam, coupling pipes scam in PHE, Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam, mess in Rural Development Department, benami property transactions by two senior ministers of the coalition, violation of Srinagar and Jammu master plans, purchase of land by non state subjects through proxy in Jammu, Kathua and Udhampur districts, mess in power development department and many other big scams were expected to rock the session.
As for the non-governance, despite huge expenditure on purchase of power, state continues to reel under darkness, huge spending on foreign tours and road shows by the tourism ministry without any reason, huge flow of funds for development of tourist infrastructure in a particular district at the cost of entire Jammu and Kashmir, LPG crises, non-availability of ration, poor rather non-implementation of dozens of centrally sponsored schemes, administrative chaos and anarchy of IAS cadres, rendering highest anti-graft bodies like State Accountability Commission, State Vigilance Commission toothless, shielding corrupts and the corrupt practices of bureaucrats at the top level, institutional erosion and adhocism in the administration, extension cum re-appointment menace, unemployment etc are the issues which could dominate the month long assembly session.
What, however, remains to be seen is that how opposition devises a strategy to raise the issues and seek response from the government. And this all depends on how the entire opposition plans to round up the government and its beleaguered ministers.
|
