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| Counterpoise to Jammu's just aspirations -- II | | Kashmiris say valley is ignored, demand Special Task Force | | NEHA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 28: The complaint of the Kashmiris that the successive governments in the state have ignored the Valley is false. It is based on heresy or it is based on what appeared in the Kashmir-based dailies after the submission of the biased and lop-sided State Finance Commission's report. Had the votaries of Task force for Kashmir gone thorough what two of the four members of the State Finance Commission Swami Raj Sharma from Jammu and Sonam Dawa from Ladakh disclosed at the time of the submission of the controversial report, they would not have said that Jammu was more developed as compared to Kashmir.
Sharma and Dawa have not only bemoaned the non-inclusion of their findings in the final report that has since been submitted, but also made public their findings. According to Sharma and Dawa, Jammu province received far less funds as compared to Kashmir in as many as nine sectors -- Agriculture and Allied Departments, Health and Medical Education, Irrigation, Flood Control and PHE, Rural Development and Allied Departments and Roads and Buildings -- since 1992.
Quoting the figures contained in the Annual Plan Document 2008-09 published by the Planning Department vis-a-vis total allotments and expenditure for the two regions of the State-Jammu and Kashmir -- covering district and State Sector plans for the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Five Year Plan periods, Sharma and Dawa had said that "barring Elementary Education sector, far less allocation was made to the Jammu region as compared to Kashmir region In the 8th Five Year Plan (1992-97) period under the Agriculture and Allied Sectors. Kashmir region was allotted Rs 12347.00 lakh, while Jammu region Rs 10007.00 lakh (2340.00 lakh less as compared to Kashmir region.) In the 9th Five Year Plan period (1997-2002), Kashmir region was given Rs 23150.00 lakh and Jammu Rs 17757 lakh" (Rs 5393 lakh less as compared to Valley.)
Likewise, in the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007), Kashmir was allocated Rs 36070 lakh and Jammu Rs 33885 lakh (less allocation of Rs 2185 lakh as compared to Kashmir). Kashmir was allocated Rs 46043 lakh and Jammu Rs 42338 lakh to Jammu during the 11th Five Year Plan period (2007-2012). In other words, Jammu got Rs 3705 lakh less as compared to Kashmir.
The story of in the Agriculture and Allied Sectors, according to Sharma and Dawa, was no different. Jammu province was allocated a total of Rs 13623 lakh less as compared to Kashmir since 1992, notwithstanding the fact that the irrigated area of Jammu region is 1,82,854 hectares as compared to 1,82,000 hectares of Kashmir. "In terms of much more agriculture land located in Jammu region, allocating far less funds in this sector to Jammu seems arbitrary and discriminatory", they have said.
Similarly, as for the Roads and Buildings Sector, Sharma and Dawa said Kashmir was given Rs 24124 lakh and Jammu province Rs 16455 lakh (Rs 7669 lakh less as compared to Valley) in 8th Five Year Plan. During the 9th Five Year Plan, Jammu region was allotted Rs 17031 lakh less as compared to Kashmir region. In 10th Five Year Plan, Kashmir was allocated Rs 15208 lakh more as compared to Jammu province. Jammu province was given Rs 39908 lakh less since 1992 despite the fact that the number of villages in Jammu province, which are still not connected with roads, is 1401 villages. It is important to note that the number of villages in the Kashmir Valley that are still not connected with is only 314 villages. In other words, the Jammu province has 1015 villages more as compared to Kashmir that are still not connected with roads. As far as Ladakh is concerned, the number of such towns is 21.
According to Sharma and Dawa, Jammu province also got less funds as compared to Kashmir in the Rural Development and Allied Departments sector. For example, Jammu province got Rs 20145 lakh less as compared to Kashmir in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Five Year Plans. As for the Irrigation, Flood Control and PHE Sectors, Jammu province was allocated Rs 47687 lakh less as compared to Kashmir during the same period. And, this gross discrimination, despite the fact that "in the Kandi belt of Jammu province there is a large scale need for check dams and water tanks irrigation system both for agriculture and forest development on water shed technology basis."
What about the nation-building crucial health sector? In the Health and Medical Education Sector, Jammu was allocated Rs 49394 lakh less as compared to Kashmir in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Five Year Plans.
Similarly, in the vital Social Welfare Sector, Jammu province was given a raw deal. Kashmir was allocated Rs 28943 lakh in 11th Five Year Plan alone and Jammu Rs 24387 lakh (Rs 4556 lakh less as compared to Kashmir region). Swami Ra Sharma and Sonam Dawa in their dissenting note pointed out that separate allotment figures for Jammu and Kashmir regions were not available for the earlier period. Why?
The story of Tourism sector had been, as per Sharma and Dawa, no different. For instance, under the Tourism Sector, an allocation of Rs 13657 lakh was made under the State Sector Plan during 11th Five Year Plan period, but again, according to Sharma and Dawa, region-wise figures were not available. At the same time, however, they were successful in revealing separate figures for the eight Tourism Development Authorities. They revealed that during the 11th Five Year Plan period, Rs 2390 lakh were allocated for Pahalgam Tourism Development Authority, Rs 2390 lakh for Gulmarg Development Authority, Rs 478 lakh for Sonamarg Tourism Development Authority, Rs 614 lakh for Kokernag Tourism Development Authority, Rs 1707 lakh for Cable Car Corporation, Rs 682 lakh for Royal Spring Golf Course, Srinagar, Rs 751 lakh for SKICC Srinagar, Rs 1297 lakh for Patnitop Development Authority, Jammu. These figures speak for themselves and indicate the extent to which Jammu province was ignored in this sector. These figures clearly establish that Jammu province got nothing but crumbs. (To be concluded) |
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