news details |
|
|
| Post Bloeria Commission | | A remedy worse than the disease | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, Sept 12: During the recently concluded session of Legislative Assembly the Finance Minister, A R Rather, announced the demise of the Bloeria Committee recommendations on the creation of new administrative units in the state. While making an announcement to this effect in the Legislative Assembly, Mr Rather said the committee’s report could not be implemented as it was ``incomplete’’.
Simultaneously, he also announced that a new committee would be constituted for this purpose soon. This committee would make recommendations for the creation of new tehsils, niabats etc.
The Bloeria Committee, headed by former chief secretary S S Bloeria, was constituted during the chief ministership of Ghulam Nabi Azad. It had undertaken the thankless job of creating new districts in both Jammu and the Kashmir regions.
As desired by the political masters of the day, it recommended the creation of four new districts each in Jammu and the Kashmir regions. Mr Azad had then claimed that this had been done to implement the Wazir Commission recommendations.
Never mind the fact that the Wazir Commission had recommended the creation of three districts in Jammu and only one new district in Kashmir. This meant the creation of only four new districts. But Mr Azad’s political calculations doubled that number, and accordingly, eight new districts were created.
Later, Mr Bloeria and his team were asked to continue working for the creation of new administrative units. They worked for months, rather years, collecting relevant data, travelling to far-off areas, meeting people and diligently planning to make their recommendations on the new administrative units.
The Amarnath land row last year disrupted the committee’s work as Mr Bloeria became an advisor to the Governor, Mr N N Vohra.
Suddenly, the government headed by the Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, has now decided to bury the Bloeria Committee report rather unceremoniously.
Is it not a case of throwing the baby with the bath water? Yes, it is. Not only that, it also is a case of trying to re-invent the (political?) wheel of new administrative units.
Since the Bloeria Committee report is anyway to be consigned to dustbin, the new committee and new members will have to start working de novo. What a colossal waste of exchequer’s money!
The new committee will have to work to improve upon Mr Bloeria’s recommendations, not the easiest of tasks. This means it can take longer than Bloeria Committee. May be then the recommendations of the new committee would be out only in another four years, by late 2013 or in 2014!
It would be far wiser and better to allow an extension to the Bloeria committee so that it completes its work, tweaking its recommendations here and there, as required.
The manner in which the government has decided to deal with the Bloeria Committee is definitely a case of the remedy being worse than the disease. Instead of solving problems of the masses, the decision is likely to complicate issues pertaining to the new administrative units further.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
