By News Agency of Kashmir
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Rural Development Minister and ‘Man Friday’ of chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has been becoming a major source of embarrassment for the government rather than an asset.
The working of Rural Development Department has come under sharp criticism from none other than Union Minister for Rural development Raghuvansh Pratap Singh, who in a written reply to the Lok Sabha castigated J&K RDD Ministry for poor implementation of Prime Minister
Grameen Sadak Yojana in the state.
The Minister informed Lok Sabha that in PMGSY, worst performance was reported from Jammu and Kashmir where the Union Rural Development Ministry surveyed 137 rural roads and found that only nine had been completed, of which seven were not up to the mark and only two met the required standards.
The remaining 128 are still under construction and of these 81 failed to pass the test and only 47 were found satisfactory, well informed sources told News Agency of Kashmir.
This came as a handy tool for the junior coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti who alleged while crores of rupees are being shown spent under PMGSY in rural areas of the State, the program, instead of having any impact on the ground, seems to be merely a political rhetoric confined only to trumpeted pronouncements.
Expressing concern over the issue, Mufti said the State Government must immediately look into the causes of negligence in the execution of PMGSY roads as it is one of the flagship projects of the UPA Government that could have transformed the rural road connectivity
scenario in the State.
The issue of death of an employee of Rural Development department employee Bishambar Singh Manhas due to alleged highhandedness of the RDD Minister Jugal Kishore Sharma has also come as a major embarrassment for the Congress government. The Minister is alleged to have sat over the file of reinstatement of the employee for over six months leading to miseries to his family and ultimately death of the employee.
The State Assembly witnessed uproar over the incident and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party MLA and former Minister Harsh Dev Singh also faced suspension over the issue.
Now the issue has become a source of show of strength between the Congress and Panther Party workers, who are organizing protests all over Jammu region.
With Congress facing a tough time for its alleged acts of Omission and Commission, the dismal performance of RDD Ministry has become another cause of worry for his top leadership, sources told NAK.
The party has to ask one of its MLA’s and close lieutenants of chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, MLA East Yogesh Sawhney to come in support of RDD Minister Jugal Kishore.
Congress workers today staged a protest march against Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party MLA Harsh Dev Singh over his alleged threat to Minister of state for Rural Development Jugal Kishore Sharma in the assembly lobby last week.
Hundreds of Congress workers led by MLA Yogesh Sawhney gathered outside the Press Club building here and started shouting slogans against Singh and JKNPP.