J&K beset with admin inertia, people suffering: Kamal

National Conference on Thursday expressed concern over the state of affairs in J&K saying over the past 10 months J&K continues to grapple with administrative inertia.

In a statement, Additional General Secretary Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal said ever since August 5 last year, people of J&K continue to face a plethora of challenges coupled with the brewing disenchantment among the unemployed youth.

“Administrative apathy, development inertia has taken a firm root in J&K. The avenues of employment for youth have shrunk and the future prospects also look gloomy in view of newly introduced domicile laws,” said Kamaal. “The measures have had a cataclysmic effect on businesses, tourism industry, handicraft sector and agriculture. The losses to industry and agriculture are immense and will take years to recover.”

He said people of J&K find themselves in dire straits. “Baffled and confused they don’t know from where to get their problems redressed. Far from redeeming the situation, as was claimed by the current ruling regime, it is no where what was achieved through painstaking efforts by New Delhi and the local legitimate representative voices of J&K,” Kamaal said.

He said the response of the government towards the woes of people during preceding winter months and the vagaries of weather have been awful.

“The response of the government to the seasonal agricultural activities of farmers has also hit rock bottom. There is no sign of redemption on ground which the incumbent ruling dispensation is trumpeting around,” he said.

Kamaal said the administrative deficit and development inertia in the cities of Jammu and Srinagar can help gauge how bad the situation will be in far-flung areas.