Samba, July 18: Apni Party Provincial President, Jammu and former minister, S. Manjit Singh on Thursday accused the government of harassing pensioners, and J&K government employees in the name of completing complicated formalities.
“These formalities are time and again being demanded by the authorities to be completed by the pensioners even after knowing the elderly pensioners are not in a position to visit their respective offices for verification purposes/submission of documents,” Singh said.
The former minister chaired a meeting at village Gobind Puri in the Vijaypur area of Samba. “The government’s policy has put the people in trouble at the age when they suffer from multiple ailments. They are compelled to ensure the completion of documents after several months in a single year which is inhuman and such a process of documentation should be withdrawn,” he said
Manjit questioned the abilities of the authority to force people to visit their respective offices, and banks for the fulfilment of required documents. “Is it worth it to force a person in their 80s to come and complete the formalities? These decisions are authoritarian and the government should roll back such decisions/orders as soon as possible,” he said, adding, “These dictates have created an atmosphere of confusion, and chaos for the ex-employees, serving employees, old age pensioners, handicapped pensioners, and others who get pension from the government.”
The Apni Party leader sought an explanation from the government as to why the people were being pushed to the wall with these directives. “The people of J&K are not ready to accept that Union Territory Status, and they question its continuation without any accountability. The history of Jammu and Kashmir is rich, and its glory must be restored by the government with the restoration of statehood,” he said.
Singh said the proposal to hold assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir is a welcome step, but an elected government without powers would have no meaning. “It would be a helpless government that would not be able to work as per the wishes of the people in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, the government has granted more power to Lt Governor who is not an elected representative of the people of Jammu & Kashmir who suffered for the last seven decades, and require special attention of the Central government,” he said.
Majit added that the Central government should realise the situation and ensure an elected government should have all the constitutional rights to act independently of the rest of the states in the country.
