Samba, Mar 15: Apni Party on Friday staged a peaceful protest demonstration, demanding the holding of assembly elections and restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir to “mitigate” the issues of the masses.
The protest march was led by the Provincial President of the party and former minister, S. Manjit Singh at Ramgarh. The demonstration was organized by District President Legal Cell, Samba, Adv Sahil Bharti.
To highlight the issues being confronted by the people, the party leaders under the leadership of Manjit Singh took out a protest march while shouting slogans in support of their demands. The protesters demanded that the public issues have multiplied with the “non-serious approach” of the authorities, especially because there is no elected government, according to a party statement issued here.
Singh said the Election Commission of India should announce holding of Legislative Assembly Elections in Jammu & Kashmir which have been delayed for the last several years.
While seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir, he said, “The bureaucracy is not working in the public interest, and the people have lost their voice in the government that has given rise to the feeling of alienation and widened the gap between public-administration.”
Manjit highlighted the plight of the refugees/displaced persons whose issues remain unaddressed regarding the release of the pending package amount and the granting of ownership rights on the land allotted to them by the government.
He said that the Government of India should release the pending package amount of Rs 25 lakhs in favour of each refugee/DP family in Jammu and Kashmir, out of a total of Rs 5.5 lakh that has already been released for these families.
“We fail to understand why the sanctioned amount for the financial support of the refugees/DPs has not been released,” he said while demanding its immediate release.
The Apni Party leader demanded that the refugees/ DPs should be granted proprietary rights over the allotted Custodian and Govt land in Jammu and Kashmir. “These refugees/DPs were settled in these lands by the respective governments following their displacement from their own properties in 1947, 1965 and 1971,” he said.
Manjit demanded on the spot a special recruitment drive for the unemployed youth in border villages in police, paramilitary and Indian Army.
In his address, he also highlighted the issues of farmers who demanded canal water up to the tail-end villages in Ramgarh, round-the-clock electricity, clean drinking water supply and waiving of KCC loan in favour of the farmers. The protest march concluded peacefully in the town.
