Blind trust of people exploited by parties like NC, PDP: Altaf Bukhari

Srinagar: Apni Party President Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari on Thursday said that the Ganderbal district portrays a typical example of the victims of VVIP constituency syndrome in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Unfortunately, the leaders who were supported and elected by the people of Ganderbal since 19970s treated their electorate as commodities that can be turned into an inheritance,” Bukhari said, while addressing the Party’s DDC election campaign at Ganderbal. Bukhari said that the blind trust of the people was exploited by parties like National Conference and PDP which considered Ganderbal as their political stronghold until recently.“From late Sheikh Abdullah who was elected from Ganderbal twice, in 1975 and 1977, his son Farooq Abdullah won from this constituency in 1983, 1987 and 1996. Farooq Saheb’s son Omar Abdullah won assembly elections from Ganderbal in 2008. This huge public mandate was breached time and again to the hilt by its ‘defacto’ rulers which ultimately resulted into Ganderbal’s dismal developmental scenario,” he remarked.
Bukhari asked why did the elected governments led by the National Conference and PDP fail to allot construction of 93-MW New Ganderbal Hydropower Project despite the Power Development Corporation (PDC) having cleared all the requisite formalities. “The two former chief ministers Mr. Omar Abdullah and Ms Mehbooba Mufti owe answers for this inordinate delay . This question should be asked by the electorate of Ganderbal who have suffered immensely since the last 30 years at the hands of those leaders who considered them as their inherited property?” Bukhari said.
He said bids were won by the successful bidders for the new Ganderbal power project—announced over two decades ago—in September 2014. “Then why was this project not allotted by the then governments. If the project was okayed by PDC; the reasons for inordinate delay in its allotment can be gauged by anyone,” he added. Apni Party president also stated that after getting elected from this district, the MLAs would regrettably outsource their public mandate and appoint local chieftains to manage their duties. “After becoming Chief Ministers, the Ganderbal MLAs would become totally inaccessible to the people and leave their electorate at the mercy of their franchisees,” he added.
Bukhari said that the people of district Ganderbal suffered huge brunt of this inaccessibility of their representatives and the gate-keeping introduced by them in the last three decades.
He said that those local chieftains who would manage the political affairs of Ganderbal MLAs have by now deserted their parties but the NC and PDP still believe that they can hoodwink the people by coining and raising new misleading slogans.
“Today is Thursday. So I want to remind the people of Ganderbal that didn’t your MLAs promise you that they would spend every Thursday in district Ganderbal and would construct a small apartment to stay connected with you? Have they ever done so?” Bukhari asked.
Instead, he said that most of the developmental works in Ganderbal were managed through non-local intermediaries. “Some of them even grabbed local jobs and appointed outsiders. There was absence of local stake-holding in those works,” he recalled.
Speaking on this occasion, Ghulam Hassan Mir, senior vice president of Apni Party, said that the economic base of Jammu and Kashmir has turned extremely weak because of the continued disturbances and now people need to wake up differentiate between the dreams and realities.
“J&K is almost dependent on central grant-in-aid. However, there are huge opportunities in different sectors like hydropower generation, horticulture, transportation, tourism, sericulture, dairy products, food processing and real estate etc. But as a people we need to rise to the occasion and contribute in making the atmosphere conducive for private investment that will open new vistas for our youth,” Mir said.
Apni Party Provincial President Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf Mir who also addressed the convention said that there is a dire need for a proper policy response from the government so that the confidence of the private investors is restored in J&K. “If we become successful in inviting private investments in J&K centers like Srinagar and Jammu and many other districts particularly Ganderbal would be turned into a hub for economic activities,” Mir added.
The convention was also addressed by party leader Javed Ahmad Mir besides contesting candidates from district Ganderbal