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| Coalition restored Reasi’s 1949 status, claims Azad | | | Early Times Reporter
Reasi | Feb 26
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has urged people to dismantle the walls of hatred built to garner votes, saying his government was resolute to erect the foundation of the State on firm will and solid programmes capable to face any challenge.
Addressing a largely attended public meeting after laying the foundation stone of the mini secretariat here today, the Chief Minister said that governments, like people, should be recognized by their work and policies and his government’s policy was to ensure all round development and extending amenities and services to people at village level. He said the people were fed up with hollow slogans and instead wanted their day to day problems addressed. He said the present era was an era of development as the time to mislead and divide masses in the name of religion and region was over. The slogans, he said, did not produce hospitals, roads or schools, adding that development demanded hard work and single-minded concentration on addressing the people’s problems.
The Chief Minister said that he and his colleagues in the government were determined to change the meaning of politics that of late had unfortunately come to mean amassing wealth and building influence. He said more often than not people join politics to make money rather than serve the masses. This trend had degenerated the political landscape. He said as a follower of political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, he had tried to make a small effort to change the meaning of politics by setting standards in the service to people all along his political career. He said Gandhiji was no comparison in strength and power of the British empire but his determination and will saw the end of the colonial rule in India. He said he, together with his colleagues in the government, were trying to positively change the meaning of politics and called for public support to achieve this end. “Without your support the task is difficult to achieve”, he added.
The Chief Minister said that the coalition government had brought about a sea change in the development scenario in Jammu & Kashmir and with the support of the electorate after returning to power again for the next six years would speed up this process further. He said special focus was given to the development of backward areas by making available more funds and taking up development schemes. He referred to the creation of eight new districts and said this was done to take the development process to the neglected areas and allow these equal opportunities to grow and progress.
Making a mention of Reasi which was a district till 1949 when the status was snatched from it, the Chief Minister said that his government had restored this position to the area. He said if Reasi was not robbed of the district status it would have been a developed area by now. He, however, assured people that no effort would be spared to make the deficiencies of the past 60 years. He said a committee constituted by the Prime Minister after he had made a request to him for an economic package for roads, had found that in the erstwhile districts of Doda and Udhampur only 5% and 11% road connectivity was available, respectively. He said development and progress did not travel where there were no roads. He said that being so, the two districts were divided into five to speed up the development process and hoped that in the next five years the new districts would see a lot of positive change.
Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Baig said that today was a day of joy for the people of Reasi district. He said the Chief Minister had changed the fortunes of Reasi by according it the district status. He said he was looking forward to the day when tourists would throng this place like they go to Pahalgam and Gulmarg. |
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