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| Jagati Camp: Will the change bring relief? | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 1: When the stories of alleged corruption in the Relief Organisation and the brewing unrest against it in the Jagati Camp appeared EARLY TIMES most of the esteemed readers were surprised more about the defiance shown by the residents of Jagati Camp against the authorities. But very few accepted any action from the government. In fact, when the then Relief Commissioner was again posted back in the department and none other than the minister-in-charge of the department chose to virtually pat the backs of the employees of the Relief Department for their services many thought that "atmosphere of fear and intimidation will only grow in the camps and the dwellers there may have to wage a protracted struggle to bring about the required change". The transfer of the Relief Commissioner immediately after he was served notice by the vigilance department for alleged malpractices has created a new hope that the intimidatory tactics of the government to muzzle the resentment in the camps will no longer be the part of the government policy after the new relief commissioner takes stock of the situation.
The residents of Jagati Camp seem to have decided even before the previous head of the Relief Department was transferred to call a spade a spade. Recently when the concerned visited the Camp there was a hue and cry before he arrived and officials of the Relief Department and the police were busy in pacifying some of the residents of Jagati. The residents were complaining vociferously that "their request to be shifted to other quarters away from their present position had not been accepted" and that "they wanted to bring that to the notice of the minister". As per the local residents of the Jagati Camp, some "henchmen of the relief department were allotted quarters in the same block" and "their behavior had raised lot of apprehensions" amongst the other residents in the same block. Women of the block were particularly upset and as per them, the alleged henchmen were outrageous in their behavior. Women, in fact, confronted the then Relief commissioner about their resentment and openly demanded "either their family quarters to be changed or the miscreants to be shifted to other place". The camp residents have come a long way in mustering courage and standing up to authorities who would frequently "threaten them of stopping their relief" for one reason or the other.
The atmosphere of "intimidation' in camps got a public exposure when hundreds of the camp residents took out a torch light procession in the camp during the late evening hours against the problems of mismanagement and corruption in their camp. Many were surprised to see hundreds of the residents holding a candle in their hands and raising slogans against the government as the call for protest during the day had evoked a very poor response just a few days earlier. When asked why more people have joined in the evening protest and ignored the day protest earlier the residents said that "during the evening it would be difficult for the agents of the relief department to identify the participants".
The growing political consciousness in Jagati was manifest when residents of the Jagati camp created a whisper campaign during a public programme in which a minister as well as a BJP MLA. The BJP MLA took a stand virtually endorsing the homeland demand even to the discomfiture of the organizers. The minister also assured the camp dwellers that the "complaints of corruption and mismanagement will be looked into." Camp residents hope that the new relief commissioner will be more sensitive and responsive to their requirement. As the order of mass re-verification issued by the previous official recently is being seen as an intimidatory tactics the residents hope the new incumbent will resort to more affirmative and positive policy taking the residents into confidence and diffusing the simmering tensions in the camp. |
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