J&K disbands panel ‘unceremoniously’
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 1 — The Regional Autonomy Committee, which had been set up about two years ago to recommend measures for the promotion of regional harmony, has been disbanded with the decision of the Government not to extend the term of its working chairman, Mr Balraj Puri, beyond December 31, 1998. Several employees working in the Committee were informed on January 29 that their services have been terminated from January 18.

What has come as a surprise to Mr Balraj Puri is the way that the Government decision was conveyed to him three weeks after the plan was formulated to disband the committee. In case of other employees, the termination order was served with retrospective effect.

Mr Puri was informed by the Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitly, on January 21. In a press note issued here today, Mr Puri said that an "advance notice would not only have been graceful but also helpful in smoothly winding up my work and in consolidating valuable material that I had collected for possible reference and use in future."

He added, "Similarly, the staff could have been spared of the sudden shock of retrospective termination of their services." He said that they deserved to be regularised as permanent government employees after having put in two years' work.

What seems to have pained Mr Puri is the Chief Minister's refusal to give him time to discuss the issue. He had sent a communication to Dr Abdullah seeking a meeting to clear related issues.

It may be mentioned that Mr Puri submitted a voluminous report on regional autonomy to the Government in June last. Since then, there has been no reaction from the Government. Mr Puri has recommended a five-tier political system for the State, with both political and financial powers to be devolved to the regional councils and then to the district and panchayat units.

Government sources said that the term of the working chairman had not been extended because the work of the committee was over. And even after the presentation of the report, the committee staff had been given six months' grace period.

However, inside reports say that the State Government, especially the Chief Minister, had felt embarrassed by the release of a portion of the report of the Ansari committee which had been set up nine years ago to probe into the riots in Jammu, resulting in the killing of 15 Sikhs and damage to property worth crores of rupees. The report had been leaked to the press recently. This had been done, as Mr Puri put it then, to awaken the Government which had refused to his repeated pleas to make public the report of the Ansari Committee.

The leak really awakened the Government which announced a hike in the payment of compensation and other incentives to the kin of those killed in the riots and victims. This decision was taken by the Cabinet within two days of Mr Puri's leak of the report to the Press. And within seven days of this leak, Mr Puri received the termination notice.

Another report says that a section of bureaucrats had been irked by repeated enquiries from some committee officials about the way the funds were spent in the name of the Committee as in the past the details of expenses on the Committee were divergent from the records maintained by the Committee officials. This too hastened the disbanding process when the Government was keen to save to meet the cash crunch.

Dist boards: a vestige of Sheikh era
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Feb 1 — The ruling National Conference has failed to implement in letter and spirit the plan conceived by Sheikh Abdullah regarding taking the Cabinet to the "doorstep"of the people through the District Development Board meetings. During the past two years of the National Conference rule the Board meetings have seemingly lost the basic purpose of interacting with the people for the purpose of mitigating their problems.

When Sheikh Abdullah became the Chief Minister in 1975 he initiated the scheme of holding District Development Board meetings by rotation in each district so that people got an opportunity to seek redressal of their grievances. District Development Boards were meant to formulate the District annual plans in consultation with the representatives of the people.

Till Sheikh Abdullah remained in power the entire cabinet would visit each district twice a year and listen to problems and suggestions of the people of the area. The plans were modified in accordance with the requirement of the people of the each district.

Gradually the board meetings were reduced to a get-together for the ministers and senior officers. It boiled down to a picnic, wherein National Conference workers besides the Department of Hospitality and Protocol would arrange sumptuous lunch for the ministers and Board members.

However, during the past two years the annual district plans are prepared in the civil secretariat. During the board meetings the plan allocations for each sector are read out. Members submit their suggestions and objections which are heard, but never implemented.

Reports said that the ongoing cash crunch has affected the entire programme. Cabinet ministers have been appointed as chairpersons of District Development Boards. The chairman and members of the Board, including legislators of the respective districts, visit the area during the Board meeting. To every demand and suggestion from the Board members the Government gives the stock reply "the scheme cannot be taken in hand because of cash crunch."

The Board meetings begin and end with customary speeches from the cabinet minister and other legislators. It is followed by sumptuous lunch and in case of any weather related problems the members overstay in the district simply to have another course of mutton delicacies. The government has nothing to offer to the people because of the financial stringency.

It is in this context that the financial experts in the state favour scrapping of the scheme when neither the government has anything fresh to offer to the people of the area nor is prepared to formulate the district plan in consultation with the Board members. These experts are of the opinion that holding of District Development Board meetings has become redundant and a white elephant. For each District Development Board meeting several lakhs of rupees are spent on travel, petrol, board and lodge. Such meetings strain the overtaxed security forces.