“The public outcry against civic facilities and power breakdown in the home constituency of the Chief Minister should not have become a cause of public inconvenience the way it has become barely within a fortnight after the takeover of the new Government”.
The recent public outcry against the hike in charges for civil facilities and erratic power supply in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal town is in itself an indication that all is not well in the Chief Minister’s Home Constituency. So the inconveniences of the people to basic services in Ganderbal deserve and demand an immediate attention and intervention of the Chief Minister in person as the accessibility of people to their MLA in this constituency would also further the causes of people’s accessibility to the newly elected representatives in other constituencies across Jammu & Kashmir. The public outcry against civic facilities and power breakdown in the home constituency of the Chief Minister should not have become a cause of public inconvenience the way it has become barely within a fortnight after the takeover by the new Government under the leadership of Omar Abdullah. While it is an irrefutable fact the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had a busy schedule of official engagements with the top helmsmen of the Central Government in New Delhi for about a week but his outstation engagements should not have become a cause of public inconveniences over delivery of basic public services like civic facilities and power supply. While intervention of the Chief Minister over the recent public outcry against public inconveniences related to delivery of basic public services like civic facilities and power supply in Ganderbal is expected very shortly, the occurrence and re-occurrence of such inconveniences of the people in other constituencies could bring down the credibility of the newly elected MLAs particularly those of the ruling party in future. Though National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah very recently asked his party MLAs to remain in touch with people in their concerned home constituencies for ensuring hassle free delivery of public services but without putting in place a constituency management plan for his party MLAs Dr Abdullah should not expect any improvement in their professional conduct and behaviour in public contact programs.
“Chief Minister making himself accountable to the people of his home constituencies through constituency management practices and procedure would inspire the dozens of MLAs of his party also to make themselves accountable to the people of their concerned home constituency. It is as such the right for the Chief Minister to develop a culture of political accountability in his own party by reaching out to the people of his home constituency Ganderbal over their recent outcry against the irresponsible response of the authorities of local municipal committee and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Ltd (KPDC) officials over civic and power facilities respectively.”
Rising accountability consciousness among people necessitates an unprecedented change in the conduct and behaviour of the MLAs for improving the quality of public contact programs in their concerned home constituencies. Chief Minister making himself accountable to the people of his home constituencies through constituency management practices and procedures would inspire the dozens of MLAs of his own party also to make themselves accountable to the people of their concerned home constituencies. It is as such the right for the Chief Minister to develop a culture of political accountability in his own party by reaching out to the people of his home constituency Ganderbal over their recent outcry against the irresponsible response of the authorities of local municipal committee and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Ltd (KPDC) officials over civic and power facilities respectively.
