Jammu, July 30: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Zonal Secretary and Coordinator Jammu District (Urban), Dr Vikas Sharma on Sunday alleged that the smart city project is a “big scandal”.
“The smart city project worth crores of rupees is a big scandal, as all is based on paperwork, but on the ground, nothing much visible has been done vis-a-vis huge allocation of funds,” the NC leader alleged in a statement.
He added, “All the promises made by the BJP have fallen flat, with educated youth pushed into deep unemployment crisis due to policy paralysis of the government. BJP has totally destroyed the Jammu region after the abrogation of Art 370 and people of Jammu are being harassed and hoodwinked in the name of developing Jammu as a smart city.”
According to the statement, following the recent announcement of holding Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies elections, Dr Vikas Sharma held a meeting with a large group of youth and sounded them to be in readiness for ensuing Panchayat / ULBs elections.
During the meeting, he said, “The LG government is functioning under the direct control of the BJP government at the Centre. The government has adopted a new modus operandi to mentally torture the people of Jammu by imposing property tax, and installing power smart meters, now pre-paid meters. In fact, a mechanism is being put in place to embarrass the public by resorting to unwarranted means.”
The NC Zonal Secretary alleged that the political party in power has totally spoiled the earning pattern of locals of Jammu as all the government works including contracts of sand, bajri, wine shops, and parking spots have been allotted to the people from outside JK UT. “This has jeopardized the living standard of the general public in Jammu and Kashmir and drastically dwindled their livelihood,” he said.
“All the important positions in the UT government sector and universities have deliberately been given and occupied by officers from outside JKUT under a well-knit conspiracy to make the lives of people here quite miserable with none to listen to their genuine grievances,” he alleged.
Dr Vikar appealed to the people that in the coming elections, including the parliamentary, assembly, or local bodies, all should join hands together to “defeat the evil designs of BJP to gain power by hook or crook, given the bad to worse experience of its miss governance since last nine years”.
He urged them to strengthen the hands of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference led by Dr Farooq Abdhulla and Omar Abdullah, “who are the only hope obviously left over for people here to heave a sigh of relief”.
