Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Thursday expressed concern over price rise essential commodities, saying rising prices coupled with increasing joblessness are pushing poor households in JK to a point of distress.
This was said by Party General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar while drawing the attention of the incumbent government towards the distress signals of JK economy due to pandemic and the resultant depleted saving, slashed incomes and job losses. He said that there was widespread disappointment in the people with the administration’s callous handling of economic distress.
Sagar further added that one of the promises in the run up for reading down the state’s status was to draw focus of the union government on welfarism in JK.
The situation on ground, Sagar added, was appalling and the forecast not promising as well. “Public welfare doesn’t fall in the to-do-list of the government. People have been left to fend for themselves,” he said.
Interacting with number of segment in charges, who had thronged the party head, quarters Nawa e Subha to apprise him about the prevailing economic distress, unemployment, administrative inertia and widespread unaccountability in their respective segments and zones Sagar said the lower middle classes and other marginalized sections are additionally burdened by the crunch of escalating price rise of all the basic commodities and mounting power and drinking water tariffs have further burdened them.
“The contracting JK economy already has had an adverse effect on the household incomes, the supercilious escalation of terrific basic public utilities and soaring inflation has pushed the people especially to wall. Let alone spending on clothing, medicine and education, people are not able to get two square meals for their families. It was expected that the crumbling economic activities in JK post 5, august 2019 will have a restraining effect on government’s taxation policy but the unabated rise in the electricity and water tariff has given slip to the unconcerned attitude of the government,” he said.
Continuing to remain under the heels of airdropped bureaucrats, Sagar said with vain exception of few virtual meeting, staged shows, PR gimmicks and window-dressing nothing substantial has been done to provide succor to the people to tide over the 2019 clampdown, 2014 deluge, and Covid-19 induced economic losses.
“Administration has turned volte face to the economic distress of people fueled by job losses, crumbling economy, strained agriculture and horticulture sectors, widespread unemployment, development deficit, administrative inertia, and soaring unemployment. The policies of the incumbent government are a bad copy paste and not in sync with local issues and developmental demands. All the tailor-made and one sided measures of the incumbent administration have failed to uplift the local economy. Absence of a democratic government has further compounded the issues. Welfarism besides other things has been the first casualty of the top down policy of New Delhi in JK,” he said.
“Growth and progress of the entire region has been stunted post 2014 floods. Let alone redressing the genuine political aspirations of the people of JK, the incumbent administration is also unheeding of the day to day issues of the people. Despite our stout opposition, the prices of petrol, diesel, and LPG have reached all time highs. It goes without saying that if the trend continues, it will dent already stressed sectors of Kashmir economy beyond repair,” he added.
