Srinagar: CPI(M) leader and former Kulgam legislator, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami on Monday said that the Panchayati Raj system is not new in Jammu and Kashmir, as it existed even before the partition here and that the government must not push the people towards the wall.
Addressing a press conference at his Gupkar residence, Tarigami said that the Prime Minister has made an appeasing statement for the youth, but questioned why several youth were put behind the bars ahead of his visit.
“The Prime Minister has made tall claims to appease the youth, but it won’t serve the cause as there is a need to change the ground situation. What matters for the youth — is to provide them with employment, ensure a free atmosphere for them and give them security,” he said.
“I want to inform the government that the anger is increasing and it should not push people to the wall,” he said, adding “don’t consider silence as normalcy!”
Tarigami said that the government is beating the drums with regard to the Panchayat Raj system here, but the fact is that it is nothing new in J&K as such a system was already existing in the Union territory even before the partition.
He also added that the implementation of GST was a big blow to the federal structure of India. “The government had claimed that the states will get their share under GST, but nothing has been given to the states so far,” he said.
He said that the situation has changed on the ground as the “governors have become parallel power centres in states, especially in the places where there are opposition governments.”
He also stated that the Prime Minister had in a meeting with J&K leaders talked about bridging the distances, but unfortunately nothing has happened on the ground.
About the present power scenario, Tarigami said that the government should intervene and the 50 percent of the electricity being generated from J&K should be given to the consumers here so that the people could heave a sigh of relief.
“At present 45 percent electricity supplied to different states is being generated from J&K and the government should intervene to provide at least 50 percent to the consumers here,” he said. (KNO)
