It has already two months since Mufti Mohammad Syed took over as Kashmir’s CM after forging an alliance with right wing Indian nationalist party BJP. The ride so far has been an interesting one. With most of the government’s time spent in countering decisions that did not go down well with either of the two collation partners the real work continues to suffer.
The government since its formation has been expressing their concern over things that they felt were not handled properly by the previous regime. These include institutionalisation of corruption, bad governance, injustice, slow relief and rehabilitation of flood affected people, lack of infrastructure, dilapidated condition of major and minor roads etc.
But apart from making promises to tackle all these issues on the priority bases there is no progress as such. It might look too early to pass a judgment on the performance of Mufti led government as they have been in office for just two months. But given the nature of job in hand and the expectations attached with this government two months should have been enough time to at least plan things and get the ball rolling.
The priority should have been to rehabilitate flood affected families who are suffering continuously since September 7, 2014 floods. Instead they are made to go through the usual pace of administration to get their share of relief material. The initial excitement that came along with the Mufti seems to have died down as days pass. They (flood victims) see no change in administrative behaviour even after the promised slogan of change filled their ears like soothing music for a while. There is still a babu sitting behind the desk who refuses to acknowledge their pain unless his demands are not met. There is still lengthy paper work that needs to be done by these victims who were thrown out of their houses by century worst natural calamity. In practicality, nothing has change accept for a few names at the top of governance structure. And these few names, like their predecessors are elusive to the public.
Another pressing issue that Mufti promised would be taken care of on a priority basis was of bad roads. But again, Mufti ended up following his predecessor Omar and turned a blind eye once he assumed power. There is immediate need to take some hard hitting decisions that would help ease the pain of lakhs of commuters who travel on these messy roads regularly. Good roads are vital to a nation’s progress. But then Mufti and his men seem to take people for a virtual joyride. Let us hope that the era of ‘will be’ governance changes soon. Mufti should understand that people have suffered a lot and this is the right time to give them some moments of pleasure.
