JAMMU: Apni Party Provincial President Jammu and Former Minister S. Manjit Singh has demanded OBC status for Jatt Community and implementation of Mandal Commission Report in favour of OBC people in Jammu and Kashmir during a meeting of Apni Party delegation led by Apni Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari.
Addressing a press conference here at Apni Party Office, S. Manjit Singh said that the meeting with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah was held in a very cordial atmosphere in which various issues were discussed with regard to the public welfare and development in all the regions of J&K.
During the meeting, the Party leaders demanded OBC status for the Jatt community which has a huge population in the border villages of Jammu plains and other areas.
He said that the Jatts community has demanded social, economic, political, and educational upliftment so that their livelihood can be upgraded.
“These people work as labourers or in their small fields belonging to poor economic backgrounds. In this circumstance, the Govt must consider and grant OBC Status to the Jatt Community which faced negligence from all the traditional political parties,” he said, expressing commitment towards the upliftment of the marginalized section of the society representing all the sections of the society.
He further said that he has also demanded implementation of the Mandal Commission Report in favour of the OBC people in Jammu and Kashmir so that they can get the long pending constitutional right of 27 % reservation in the Union Territory.
He said that the Displaced Persons of Chhamb have also suffered equally. These Displaced Persons were displaced in 1965 and 1971 from Chhamb and then settled by then Govts along the border belt on the allotted land.
Unfortunately in all these years, he said these DPs were not granted property rights on the allotted land by the respective Govts in the past.
“These people were left to suffer and whenever their land is acquired by BSF, Army, NHAI or other Govt agencies, the DPs are not given compensation although the land is allotted to them,” he said.
On this, Manjit Singh told media persons that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed his commitment and directed the Chief Secretary, Arun Kumar Mehta to give property rights on the land allotted to the DPs.
“Amit Shah also directed the J&K Govt to confirm cases of DPs who were not given compensation after acquiring land from them. The DPs should be given compensation,” Manjit Singh quoting the Apni Party meeting with the Union Home Minister said.
He said that the Home Minister asked Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to verify the DP’s compensation cases.
With regard to the demand of Jatts and OBC people, he said that the LG J&K said the commission will be working on the memorandums/reports submitted to the commission members regarding the demands of Jatts and OBC people in J&K. He assured justice for both the communities.
He also demanded release of Rs 25 lakh financial package announced in favour of the refugees and complained that Rs 5.5. lakh was not received by all the refugee families.
The Apni Party has also demanded regularization of the daily wagers working in different Govt departments of J&K.
Meanwhile, the Apni Party delegation was led by Party President Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari who demanded restoration of Statehood to J&K, holding of early assembly elections in J&K, employment package, special recruitment police department, redressal truckers/fruit growers/commuters issues especially when the Jammu-Srinagar Highway gets blocked due to various reasons.
The Party President also demanded fast-track recruitment, release of youth held in preventive detention, resolution of problems faced by the fruit growers of Kashmir valley, uptake completion of projects, and formulate a genuine and judicious verification policy in respect of those candidates who are selected for various Government jobs and raising of new battalions.
