NC alienated people for power, luxuries: Mehbooba

Scoop News May 04, 2012

Jammu, May 04 (Scoop News) – Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has said NC in its different avatars has always tried to create a gulf between the people of Kashmir and rest of the country so that it is able to exploit it for its own benefit. Addressing meetings of workers at Palpora and Waniyar in Eidgah constituency today she said whether it was Raishumari or autonomy NC raised tempers among the people, created wedge between different regions of the state and pitted the people in direct confrontation with rest of the country. This she said resulted in unending troubles for every one without the state being able to achieve any thing but in the process lost whatever had been gauranteed to it under the constitution by way of political authority and economic resources.

Mehbooba said while the state hurtled from one crisis to another the NC and its leadership struck deep bonds with everybody in Delhi whether it was Congress,RSS, BJP, Third front or different agencies. “They convinced Delhi that if any body could beat Kashmiris into submission it was the Abdullah Family and NC and for that all tricks were employed”, she said and recalled how the central government had helped NC rigg elections in 1987 and resort to tactical rigging in 2008.

The PDP president said while the NC enjoyed power for personal luxuries they took the people of the state for granted and the Srinagar was the worst victim of their power arrogance. She said the people of Srinagar were forced to cocoon themselves into a boycott mode and NC kept getting elected as their representatives without having any commitment to the welfare of the people. She said even as the ruling party continues to hope that the people of Srinagar would again fall prey to their tactics the PDP would put up resistance and try to convince people that without holding political parties to account for their conduct, Srinagar would continue to suffer politically and economically. “ For that to happen it was necessary that people of Srinagar join the political process launched by the PDP which aims at a dignified solution to the problem of Jammu & Kashmir and economic emancipation of the state”, Mehbooba said.

Describing youth as the main focus of PDPs policies Mehbooba said the party wants to liberate them from unemployment and social evils. It was necessary she said to provide and enabling atmosphere for our youth to acquire knowledge and skills for empowering them economically and politically. She said if the NC had not sold out state’s huge power and water resources to NHPC Jammu & Kashmir would not only have been self reliant but would be able to cater to the employment needs of its every citizen. She said on the one hand NC gave away more than a dozen power projects to NHPC and on the other the state is reeling under darkness. The electric supply is getting reduced with every passing day under NC government while power tariff has been increased threefold in the last three years. “If NC had not sold the power projects the state would have had enough money to provide employment for every youth and power to every house hold and industry”, she said.

Expressing her dismay at the shelving of the development projects in Srinagar that had been started by the previous government Mehbooba said this spoke volumes of the political narrow mindedness of the present dispensation. She said Eidgah and its peripheries were planned by the PDP led government to become hub of socioeconomic acitivity and modern amenities so that entire downtown could benefit from it. “Not to speak of the allied development even the preservation and beutification of Edigah it self had been stopped”, Mehbooba regretted. She said similarly, the beautification of Jehlum was to be extended to entire city so that the historic city could be rejuevenated but again the government failed to carry on the process, she said. She pointed out that even the construction of new weir at Chatabal has not been sucessfully executed. She said the reconstruction of weir would have helped navigation through the river and would have opened up the heritage part of the city to tourism activity.

Speaking on this occasion Fomer Finance Minister& Senior leader Tariq Hameed Karra blamed NC of worsening economic, political and infrastructure condition of the capital city. “Srinagar is turning into world’s fastest growing slum because of government neglect while the ruling national conference doles out the haphazardly conceived works to its cadre in the name of development, only to provide them monetary benefits.”

Karra said that lack of vision in the ruling party was the misfortune of Srinagar as the city now looks, centuries behind its counterparts in other states. “National Conference has unfortunately taken Srinagar for granted and does not feel accountable to its residents as its leaders from the city know they are only beneficiaries of boycott politics and are not even concerned with the huge issues of development that city faces.

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