‘Govt extending basic facilities to people’s doorsteps’
By News Agency of kashmir
Jammu : Saying that the objective of peace and progress could be achieved through all round development, the Chief Minister, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad has asserted that his government’s attention was focused on economic reconstruction of Jammu & Kashmir and providing basic amenities to people.
“I have been pointing out that the target of peace and progress can be reached through overall development and that is why the efforts of my government are concentrated on economic reconstruction and extending basic facilities to people’s doorsteps”, the Chief Minister said in a Republic Day message recorded for Doordarshan and Radio Kashmir here on Friday.
Azad assured the people that his government was fully conscious of the problems faced by them and taking concrete steps to address these. He said the scenario of reconstruction and development with emphasis on providing amenities to people at village level was discernible across the State.
The Chief Minister said that his aim was to see Jammu & Kashmir among the most developed states of the country. He said this objective demanded hard work and sustained toil to realize and called upon the people of the State to make their contribution to fulfilling his mission.
“I seek your hand in transforming the darkness of poverty and ignorance into the light of progress and prosperity”, Mr. Azad asked people and hoped that the State would soon attain new heights of development.
The Chief Minister made a special mention of the liberal assistance provided by the central government to J&K for meeting its development needs and expanding public utility services. He said whether it was the PM’s special economic package or the Planning Commission conceding the demand of the State government for enhanced plan allocation, the union government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh had made funds available in keeping with the special requirements of Jammu & Kashmir. He referred to the stepping up of the State’s annual plan by Rs. 500 crore, making it Rs. 4500 crore for the next fiscal. He noted with satisfaction that the per capita income in the State had registered an increase by Rs. 5000 and the development investment by Rs. 4000 during the past five years.
Azad said that the last two years were revolutionary in so far as infrastructure development in the State was concerned, adding that the areas, neglected for decades, tasted for the first time, the fruits of development. He said during this period a new work culture was born and nurtured in J&K, resulting in the completion of even mega projects, like the Haj House in Srinagar, on time. He said the sectors of education, health, roads, drinking water and power witnessed a phenomenal progress in terms of infrastructure building and up-gradation.
The Chief Minister said that notwithstanding limited resources, about 88,000 people were provided employment during the past 5 years since the coalition government assumed office. He said 40,000 more jobs were in the pipeline for the current year. He said a cabinet sub-committee was constituted to suggest measures for addressing the problem of growing unemployment and formulate the employment policy for the State.
Recalling that on taking over as the Chief Minister two years ago, he had set out a goal of providing clean, transparent and corruption-free dispensation to the people of the State, Mr. Azad said that he was focused on this objective and appreciated people’s support to his war against corruption. He said a carrot and stick policy was adopted to encourage the honest and upright government employees and punish the corrupt. He said the Accountability Commission and the Vigilance Organisation were strengthened to reinforce the monitoring and punishment apparatus even as the administration was made accountable.
The Chief Minister alluded to the promises made in the common minimum programme of the coalition government and said that almost all of these had been fulfilled. He specifically mentioned the creation of new administrative units and said although the Wazir Commission had recommended the creation of only 4 districts in the State, his government went further and set up 8 new districts, 4 each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions, three sub-divisions and 12 tehsils. Likewise, he said, the Finance Commission was set up to address the complaints of discrimination between the regions and ensure equitable distribution of resources.
Complimenting the security forces, police and the people for the improvement in the security and human rights situation in the State, Mr. Azad said that violence was on decrease. He said 2007 was the first year in last two decades when no custodial disappearance took place. He said the violence showed a decrease by 34.5 percent over the preceding year and the decreasing trend was witnessed in the killings of civilians, political activists, SPOs and VDC members. He reiterated his government’s commitment to upholding human rights and said that the erring army, security forces and police personnel had been punished under the law.
The Chief Minister referred to the confidence building measures taken by the central government and made a special reference to the holding of three Roundtable Conferences by the Prime Minister and setting up of five Working Groups on Jammu and Kashmir. He said he had a detailed meeting earlier this week with the Prime Minister on the implementation of the recommendations made by the Working Groups especially pertaining to the facilitation of cross-LoC travel, rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, rehabilitation and education of militancy affected widows and orphans and problems of refugees of West Pakistan and PoK of 1947. He hoped that the internal situation in Pakistan would soon improve and democracy restored so that the peace process between India and Pakistan, temporarily slowed down by the recent developments in the neighbouring country, would be taken further.
Felicitating the people on the 59th Republic Day, Mr. Azad said that the firm foundations of a democratic polity provided by the Constitution of the country, that came into force on this day in 1950, had made India a shining example of functional democracy across the globe. He said the people of the country were proud to be the citizens of the largest democracy in the world where everybody enjoyed equal rights and opportunities of progress irrespective of caste, colour or creed.