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| Clash with Jora: Jammu’s tale is one of gross discrimination with it | | STARK REALITY | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 5: The BJP and JKNPP legislators as well as independent legislator from Bishnah clashed with Tourism Minister Rigzin Jora on Thursday. Their grouse was that he was giving a preferential treatment to Kashmir and not paying any attention to the fast-decaying ancient water bodies in the Jammu region, including Mansar and Surinsar lakes.
Their charge was well-founded and could not be described as a manifestation of their biased approach towards Kashmir. Their charge was based on the official figures. Take, for instance, the glaring disparity in the allotment of funds for the protection and conservation of the Wullar and Dal lakes in Kashmir and Surinsar and Mansar lakes in Jammu province.
For the lakes located in Kashmir, funds to the tune of 656 crores have already been allotted, along with the assurance that the government would earmark more funds for the protection, conservation and beautification of these lakes, if required. As for Surinsar and Mansar lakes, only a paltry sum of Rs three crores has been earmarked, coupled with a vague assurance that the amount could be increased from Rs three to seven crores.
Look at another glaring disparity in the allotment of funds. The case in point is the submission of a proposal by the State Government to the Central Government for the protection of Jhelum river in Kashmir and Tawi river in Jammu. For the protection of the Jhelum river, the State Government has demanded no less than “2,200” crores of rupees, as against “Rs 25 crore” for the protection of Tawi river.
But these are not the only instances which indicate the extent of the Jammu province’s gross neglect. Official figures relating to road connectivity, rate of unemployment, power generation, admission to the technical and profession colleges, wage structure and so on all indicate the indifferent attitude of the authorities towards the people of Jammu province.
Take, for example, the figures relating to the road connectivity in Jammu province. According to the Report of the Task Force on Development of Jammu and Kashmir (November 2006), the total road length in Jammu province with an area of nearly two times that of Kashmir province was 4,571 kilometers in 2006, as against 7,129 kilometers in Kashmir province with an area less than 16,000 sq kms. In other words, the road density km/sq km in Jammu province was 138.7, as against 310.4 in Kashmir. In the erstwhile Doda district, which is accident-prone area, the road density km/sq km was just 5.2. (The Prime Minister had constituted this Task Force in 2006.)
Similarly, the total installed capacity of the state-controlled Chenani power plant in the Jammu province is not more than 25 MW, as against the total installed capacity of 335.36 MW in Kashmir province, leave aside those gas turbines in Kashmir, which also meet the requirements of the people there. The state-run power plants such as Upper Jhelum, Lower Jhelum, Mohra, Gandarbal, and Upper Sindh are all located in Kashmir province.
Likewise, the rate of unemployment is much higher in the Jammu province as compared to Kashmir. The unemployment rate in Jammu province is nearly 69.75 per cent, as against less than 30 per cent in Kashmir. The composition and complexion of the state’s civil secretariat also indicates the Jammu’s conspicuous absence there. Almost 70 per cent positions in the Civil Secretariat out of a total of 1715 in 2007 were in the hands of the people of Kashmir. The position continues to remain almost the same even today.
The most disturbing aspect of the whole situation is the disparity in the wages. Each Jammu-based worker working in the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department in Jammu province under the Community Participation Scheme (CPD) is getting a monthly wage of Rs 500 each, as against Rs 2,100 his Kashmiri counterpart has been getting since 2006. The government knows it but expresses its inability to bring about parity on the ground that it has no money to meet the legitimate demand of the Jammu-based poor and discriminated against daily wagers working in the PHE Department.
Likewise, a scrutiny of the MBBS/BDS admission lists indicates that the share of Jammu province in the state-rum Medical colleges has decreased from 60 per cent in 1992 to 52 per cent in 1991 to 38 per cent in 19994 to 36 per cent in 1995 to 20 per cent in 1997 to 17 per cent in 1998. Between 1998 and 2009, the share of Jammu province in these colleges remained almost static, sometimes even less.
These are only a few of similar other several glaring instances of discrimination, including under representation in the Assembly, with the people of Jammu province. The authorities just cannot ignore these hard facts. They have to redress the complaints and grievances of the people of Jammu province. The clash between the BJP and JKNPP legislators with Rigzin Jora needs to be viewed in this context. But the question to be asked is: Will the authorities take some concrete steps to mitigate the Jammu’s hardships?
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