Issue 52 Vol III, November 30, 2007

C O M M E N T

Govt. has plenty for ministers’ comforts
Ajmer Alam Wani

FOR the past 135 long years, the old tradition of Darbar Move from Srinagar to Jammu and back has been kept with remarkable efficiency. The governments at various levels are notorious for inefficiency. This  unique way of keeping two state capitals for six months each and the government moving its headquarters for winter and summer was started in 1872, during the rule of Maharaja Ranbir Singh.

It is another matter that the practice of shifting the offices between the two capitals along with huge staff devoures the State exchequer of several hundred crores of rupees. The Civil Secretariat, which houses the offices of the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and other top bureaucrats, is the nerve centre of official activities. Nearly 10,000 government officials and employees move to Jammu for six months and vice versa.

After every six months huge public  money is spent on the face lifting of ministers’ bungalows and employee quarters for the Bi-Annual event of Darbar move. While on the other hand problem of un-employment is rising day by day which is compelling educated youth to take to streets for demanding employment. Instead of using the money being wasted every year on shifting of government officers from Srinagar to Jammu and vice versa, for generating employment avenues, the State Government is determined to spend a huge amount every year thus the future of un-employed youth is left in the lurch.

On an average, at least one protest in a week by the unemployed demanding jobs has become almost a routine affair in the State. But the government except the routine promises seems oblivious to the magnitude of the problem.

Not only this there are innumerable cases where employees have denied of timely salaries for months together and unfortunately on such times financial crunch is the excuse put forth for the delay. But there seems to be no financial crunch when it comes to face lifting of ministers’ bungalows. Since the Congress-PDP Coalition Government took over the reigns of power in the hapless Jammu and Kashmir , the only answer for un-employment appears to be the appointment of Rehbers in every department.

While on the other hand, the government continues to spend crores of rupees annually in connection with Darbar Move. This happens despite the fact that the State depends heavily on the financial resources from the Central Government.

As part of the Bi-Annual move of government offices from Srinagar to Jammu in the first week of November, the Civil Secretariat building and other office complexes along with the accommodations of employees has started getting a fresh face-lift in Jammu. Rooms of ministers, senior bureaucrats are also being spruced up. In various government quarters, even the walls are being cemented and additional rooms  built for the convenience of employees.

But at the same time many people who are living in Evacuee Properties (EP) and regulated by the Custodian Department are not provided even Rs 10,000 for renovation of those buildings which have been declared unsafe few years ago. People have little choice but to use these deteriorating buildings in the Narayana Galli of Kacchi Chhawni under the fear of death every day. The government officers close in Srinagar on 26th October and reopen in Jammu on 5th November.

People from both Jammu and Kashmir Divisions are not happy with the six-monthly shifting of the government offices. Thousands of un-employed youth had been waiting for jobs but their future seems to be bleak, as the coalition partners in the State Government are busy in solving their internal differences than formulating an employment policy.

The government introduced schemes like Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT), Rehbar-e-Zirat (ReZ) to overcome the problem of un-employment but these policies, providing temporary jobs in teaching and agriculture sector to the educated youth, have also come under sharp criticism as those employed under these schemes say that such schemes are nothing but a joke and exploitation of the educated youth. The government sought applications for 35,000 jobs and over 3.5 lakh applied. Situation in the rural Kashmir is worse as it is in Jammu areas. People trudge miles for drinking water.

Un-employment has caused frustration among the youth, which is forcing them into many illegal trades. It has forced them to indulge in anti-social activities---theft but the government care takers can do their best with their lip service instead of formulating some policies to wipe out unemployment.

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Death Hangs over the Dal Lake
Ajmer Alam Wani

THE picturesque Dal Lake in Kashmir, which draws tourists from world over, is quickly being stripped off its shimmering beauty. It is shrinking in size with routine dumping of industrial wastes and encroachment along its banks. It is a victim of apathy of both the government and the citizens. How cruel is that!

The Dal Lake, situated in the middle of Srinagar, faces a grave ecological disaster. Once a star tourist attraction with its famed Shikaras, the lake would soon be little more than a cesspool of filth due to the encroachment, mechanical de-weeding and sluggish water movement. Situated at an altitude of 1,580 metres above sea level in east of Srinagar and high Zaberwan mountains with their lower slopes descending to the lake and orchards and wooden fields in the backdrop, The Lake has shrunk from 75 square kilometers in 1200 AD to 25 square kilometers in the 1980s, to smaller than 12 square kilometers today.

Continued agricultural activity in the floating gardens and catchment’s areas, land reclamation, encroachments and constructions in and around the lake have also contributed to its steady degradation. Over the last decade the lake has dropped 2.4 meters in height. Debris from floating gardens has accumulated and uncontrolled building activity has filled in large areas of the lake. All the untreated sewage of Srinagar City and some 1,400 houseboats is deposited directly into the lake. Other lakes in the Kashmir Valley are facing similar problems.

On the surface, the lake may still look beautiful, but it has been polluted with sewage wastes and poisonous effluents which have been routinely routed to its waters over the years. While the officials continue to brood over exhaustive plans for its survival, some tourists and locals are setting an example to preserve Kashmir's famed Dal Lake by extracting out tonnes of garbage that threatens to choke the lake.

It was June 18, 2007, when a large number of people, including foreign and domestic tourists, houseboat owners and voluntary groups collected truckloads of polythene bags, empty soft drink bottles and other litter from the lake. The effort to clean the lake was prompted by two foreign tourists, Marc Stolltreiter, a German, and Birgit Lenger, an Austrian, who took boat rides on the lake to collect the floating garbage.

Muhammad Azim Tuman, Chairman of the Houseboat Owners Association, blamed the local Lakes and Waterways Authority, the governmental body entrusted with the preservation and maintenance of all water bodies in the Kashmir Valley, for the present condition of the lake. “When we see drains and garbage pouring into the lake we wonder where all the funds meant for the lake's preservation has gone,” quoted an English daily saying him. “It is time the government to order a probe into the utilisation of those funds,” English daily said quoting Tuman.

Most of the natural area of the lake has been reclaimed and converted into residential areas. Floating vegetable gardens have come up on the lake at many places from which fertilisers seep into the waters. The scores of hotels situated on the banks of the lake also contribute towards the lake's degradation as the affluent discharged from them finally find their way into its waters. Alarmed by the Dal Lake's degradation, the state High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of its condition and takes periodic stock of the efforts made towards its preservation. Some hope as yet.

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