Senior CPI(M) leader and MLA Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami Monday called the developmental agenda of ruling BJP “hollow” and said the Centre and the PDP government in the state could not “hoodwink people of Jammu and Kashmir anymore in the name of Prime Minister’s developmental package for the state”.
The 82,452-crore package was announced and celebrated by the BJP and the PDP amid much fanfare in 2015. “But we have been saying from day one the so-called developmental agenda of the BJP government is hollow, not only in Jammu and Kashmir, but across the country,” he said.
Nearly three years after the announcement of the package, said Tarigami, J&K had so far received “meagre 18 per cent” of the approved amount. “We are surprised that despite everything being cleared about this so-called developmental package now, the alliance partners in the government are still trying to hoodwink people of the state,” he said.
Tarigami added, “The package was for five years and in almost three years just 18 percent funds have been released, which makes it amply clear what the intentions of the BJP government are. The package was nothing but normal allocation of funds for J&K, which the state and central government tried to masquerade as developmental package.”
Stating that unemployment in the state had gained alarming proportions, the CPM leader said the government had failed to take any initiative in this regard. “When PM Narendra Modi announced the package in November 2015, he had assured that funds would not be a constraint in building a modern, progressive and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir. Where have those promises gone?”
Tarigami said most of the Centrally-sponsored projects were receiving little or no financial support, creating a lot of hardships for the people of the state. “Work on vital development projects has come to a standstill and it has affected the livelihood of lakhs of people in the state as well. Power and water supply projects have been abandoned due to the paucity of funds,” he said.