J&K govt issuing ‘disappointing’ remarks on issues of Kashmiri migrant employees: Girdhari Lal Raina

Jammu: BJP spokesperson Girdhari Lal Raina has said that the persistent contradictory statements made by the Union Territory administration on issues related to Kashmiri migrant employees are “disappointing” and a matter of deep concern.

He urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to find the reasons for continuous derailing of construction of transit accommodation in the Kashmir Valley for displaced employees.

The former MLC said that the deliberate sabotage from within cannot be ruled out as experience forces the community to be apprehensive again.

“The persistent contradictory statements from the Union Territory administration with regards to issues related to the displaced community are disappointing and a matter of deep concern,” Raina said in a statement here on Thursday.

He said that identification of locations, transfer of land to the concerned department and delay in transferring of land on flimsy grounds by the government department also needs to be looked into.

He alleged that the administration is issuing conflicting statements, which is causing confusion among the community members.

“The latest in the series is the conflicting reports about the transit accommodation being constructed in the Kashmir Valley for the employees recruited under the Prime Minister’s Package,” he said.

General administrative department (GAD) order of the department of disaster management and relief and rehabilitation (DMRR) issued on November 4 this year according sanction to construction of transit accommodation is completely negating assertion of Sinha, he alleged.

He said that the GAD sanction order speaks about administrative approval to the construction of 1,648 units at six locations at an estimated cost of Rs 201.60 crore.

“However, the LG has on record asserted that transit accommodation for 6,000 employees will be constructed in 18 months,” he added.

Just a day earlier on November 3, in an interview to leading media outlets, the LG said, “Of 6,000 houses, 5,000 will be constructed within the next one-and-a-half year. The remaining 1,000 houses will also be constructed at the earliest.”

But the GAD sanction order is for 1,648 units only, he alleged.

“Then there is this rider of fulfilment of all codal formalities and procedural norms which the administration is unable and unwilling and uninterested in complying ever since this much-hyped over publicised and unnecessarily delayed package was announced in 2008,” Raina alleged.

He said there is possibly a deliberate sabotage from within which cannot be ruled out.

“Experience forces the community to be apprehensive yet again. It is crystal clear that these codal formalities and procedural norms will not be fulfilled and even 1,648 units will not be constructed in 18 months,” he said.

Raina said that Sinha needs to find the reasons for continuous derailing of construction of transit accommodation in the Kashmir Valley for Kashmiri migrant employees.

“My earnest appeal to the LG is to look into the issue as a priority and constitute a committee to monitor implementation of the much-delayed package,” he added. (PTI)