Binoo Joshi              

( J K News Today Commentary)

 

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti  had all the reason to be angry when  she was  greeted with dismal performance record in regard to the development projects and law and order situation  at a review meeting in Jammu on Monday.  Things had not moved  since she made a similar review in April soon after taking over the office of  head of the government .

The issues on which she demanded progress report  were not flagged off  overnight . They were there for almost two years now , and she found it hard to believe that  nothing  has been achieve in the past over six months  when the seat of the government was in  Srinagar. That, in itself, is no excuse that the works should have  stood frozen , because the government was not here.

In fact, the government was  here in Jammu. All the important ministers from PDP and of-course, from BJP  were  mapping Jammu region  during summers  immediately after the death of Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen commander  Burhan Wani  in July . They were making field visits and  holding unending review meetings .

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Despite that if the  people are not getting rations, roads and buildings have not been constructed , hospitals are without adequate facilities  and  commoners are crying for basic necessities , then there is  definitely wrong with the system .

One of the excuses  advanced by  the men who matter is that “ Kashmir unrest of four months” consumed their attention.  As the ministers and bureaucrats were out of the trouble-torn Valley , how can they justify the lack of attention towards projects in Jammu . This is  incomprehensible .  Kashmir was neither supplying material nor labour to Jammu.

The exchange of fire on borders created a situation  and they  found them engaged in providing relief  to the border population .  The ground reality is far from different what the divisional administration told Chief Minister. For days together, the bureaucrats did not  bother to visit the affected villages and failed to infuse confidence among the people  in their capabilities to look after them.  Their claims were sham . Border residents could have told Chief Minister the truth about their plight, but they don’t have access to ministers and officers, so who listens to them.

Mehbooba Mufti should  take all the defaulters in the administration to task , and if she cannot do that, then it would be concluded that  she is  not in control of things , while bureaucracy and police are ruling the roost.