SRINAGAR: The National Conference on Sunday asked the Government of India to change its hard-nosed attitude vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir and restore its special status for the furtherance of peace and prosperity in the region.
The party’s members of parliament, Muhammad Akbar Lone and Hassnain Masoodi, while interacting with scores of workers who had called on them from different areas of north and south Kashmir said that the political uncertainty and chaos at all levels of administration was a direct outcome of the measures undertaken by the ruling BJP on 5th of August last year. They said the measures, far from putting the region on the track of development, had undone the achievements of all the previous governments in the state.
The measures undertaken unilaterally on the 5th of August last year, they said, had not fared well in any region of Jammu and Kashmir. They also said that the local body elections cannot be a substitute to a fully functional legislature of a state. The government machinery, the MPs said, had miserably failed to cope with the development demands of the people, who have never felt so dejected before as they are feeling now on account of the government’s failure to attend to their day-to-day issues.
“The recent snowfall is a point in case. Despite the predictions, the administration, like always, was again caught napping. It is shocking to see how the predictions were left unheeded. Even at the onset of winter, the administration failed to stock all essential items in Kashmir division. Today people are hankering for basic edibles in the upper reaches. The scarcity of LPG and kerosene oil is being miserably felt. The erratic water and electricity supply has added to the woes of people. There are areas where people have been without electricity and water for days now, but the administration is yet to take any call on that as well. Primary, secondary health care centers across Kashmir also narrate a grimy state of affairs on account of absence of medics and unavailability of medicines. There is no accountability on the ground,” they said.
People who had called on the MPs acquainted them about their issues. They also appraised the MPs of the unavailability of essentials in their areas and the unaccountability in hospitals. The MPs assured the workers that they will raise their grievances at all appropriate forums.

KR Desk