Muhammad Ahseem
In regions of conflict, development always takes a backseat. With reports suggesting that most of the funds meant for the development of basic infrastructure in the state have remained unutilized, the masses, particularly in Valley are suffering on many fronts. Apart from the oppression people over here had to bear at the hands of police and paramilitaries, the delivery of basic amenities (Electricity, Roads, Potable water etc) received virtually no attention in the present financial year. The entire government machinery was preoccupied in tackling the unrest in the state, developmental activities never appeared on the radar of the ruling coalition in the last six months.
Out of the funds for public spending in the state, around one-third is meant for development activities under various heads and the department of rural development receives the major share of it. The 2010 uprising that erupted with the killing of a teenager in down town area of Srinagar city, engulfed the whole valley with a span of a few days and no major endeavour, worth a name was initiated in the rural development sector. Besides what we are losing on the power plants, run by NHPC, the non-serious approach of the administration has cost the state major projects like those of watershed development programme. According to estimates, the state has lost more than 200 Crore by failing to submit proper plans for watershed development as part of Integrated Watershed Development Programme. The various centrally sponsored schemes affiliated with National Rural Health Mission met the same fate.
In the last five to six months, life in Srinagar city remained paralysed, either due to the bandh calls issued by separatists or due to the strict curfews imposed by government to prevent public protests. Consequentially urban development received no attention at all. Barring the macadamization of some city roads that too at the fag end of the season, when temperature was already below the optimal level, the city was mostly left to dogs.
Meanwhile the Jammu ministers reportedly have told the heads of various departments to exceed the funds allocated for different sectors in Jammu by fifty percent, knowing well that the unspent money meant for Valley will eventually be diverted to Jammu.
The prospects of starting any developmental work in valley are over as winter has already set in. To prevent the diversion of funds meant for valley to Jammu or their lapse, the government should instead focus on one major project. One of these could be the development of ninety-feet road, which is facing a severe shortage of funds. The completion of this road would ease the problem of traffic management in the city to a great extent.
Already there is a strong notion among the civil society in Kashmir that the tremendous developmental growth in Jammu was made possible only at the cost of valley. During the last 20 years, top bureaucrats allegedly would transfer funds to Jammu out of valley’s share, citing the hostile conditions prevalent here as the reason. The government should do away with this discriminative practice and act responsibly this time by not denying the people of valley, their share of developmental funds.
