Excerpts from the press conference addressed by PDP senior leaders and former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig

GNS REPORTER :Muzaffar Hussain Beig, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senior leader and former deputy chief minister today said National Conference has played a pivotal role in systematic demolition of institutions of fairness, transparency and local self governance.

Beig said NC was never in favour of empowering Panchayats in the state which is evident from the existing structure of Panchayats in the state.

National Conference’s excuse that 73^rd amendment in Central Panchayat Act can not be extended to Jammu and Kashmir is a farce to befool the people.

 If there are any shortcomings or deficiencies in the J&K Panchayat Act, the same can be removed thorough amendments based on features of 73^rd amendments of Central Panchayat Act which can be carried out through a simple majority in the state legislature.

 PDP had brought a bill for the empowerment of Panchayats in the state in 2004 but NC sabotaged it.

There is no controversy on 74^th amendment as the same provides guidelines for urban local bodies.

According to the guidelines of 73^rd amendment, there will be a Panchayat at every Halqa level, a Block Development Council   at every Block level and District Development and planning Board at every district level. 

The systematic approach to achieve the aim behind this three tier system is explicitly laid down in the Panchayat Act itself.

The government held elections to elect Panchs and Sarpanchs at village level but after these elections no requisite steps mandatory under the Act have been taken by this government.

The Panchayats will comprise of Panchs and Sarpanchs. Similarly the Block Development Councils will comprise of elected Panchayat representatives and similarly as per the Act the District Development and Planning Board in every district will comprise of MLA, MLCs, and a chairman, vice chairman duly elected by the Block Development Council.

What this government wants is to nominate these chairmen and vice chairmen. It is where we object to this nomination because then there is no fun of holding Panchayat level elections. Then what does the self governance means. If the chairman and vice chairmen are nominated it DDPBs will become like any other department working under the government dictates.

This for which we had brought a bill in both the houses of state legislature but the same was not even taken for its introduction by the National Conference.

Our question will be to the Congress that if it was in the state legislature at that time, why it did not support our bill.

Now coming to the Government’s systematic demolition of this institution!

If elections for Panchs and Sarpanchs were completed in April 2011 but why it took this government 2 ½ months to issue a notification declaring the results.

The First meeting of Panchs and Sarpanchs was to be convened by the Block Planning Officer immediately after issuance of the notification, why this meeting mandatory under the Act was never ever called.

If the first meeting was never convened, there can be no question of second meeting of Panchs and Sarpanchs. By this time    there should have been at least 18 meetings of Panchs and Sarpanchs but not a single meeting has been conducted sofar.

As per the Panchayat Act, 30 days after holding First Meeting of Panchs and Sarpanchs, the government must conduct elections for Block Development Councils within 20 days.

But who stopped them for not holding these meetings and conducting Block level elections.

Since no Block Levels elections were held no District Development Boards were formed which as per law have to formulate guidelines for functioning of Panchayats.

Rubbing slat to injuries of Panchs and Sarpanchs, this Government claimed allotting jurisdiction of 14 departments to Panchayats. But one can ask for what these departments were handed over to these Panchayats. The answer is simple. The Panchs and Sarpanchs have been asked to act as informers to keep track of attendance of employees of these department and report to the government.

 In other words Panchs and Sarpanchs whose mandate as per law is development and adjudication of local controversies were asked to keep track of employees of schools, hospitals and other offices.

It was government’s duty under section 14 of the Act to provide funds to these but no provision of budget has been kept by this government in 2011-12 budget and even this year’s budget has nothing to earmark for Panchayats.

Had the budgetary support been extended to these Panchayats today the Panchs and Sarpanchs would not have been an alienated lot. As the people expected development trough these Panchayats; in absence of funds the Panchs and Sarpanchs have been left discredited among the people by this government.    The intentional disgrace to Panchs and Sarpanchs has made them vulnerable to these fatal attacks.

Omar says MLA didn’t allow them to empower Panchayats. In January 2012 the honourable speaker of the legislative assembly formed a committee to define powers and privileges of members of legislature. I declined the offer to preside over the committee. Mufti Saheb had directed me to defer this matter as he never wanted that Panchayats will deem that their powers have been snatched by members of state legislature. So when they themselves formed the committee to define the powers of members of state legislature ho can Omar blame members of the state legislature for disempowerment of Panchayats?

Under the Panchayat Act, every Panch and Sarpanch is supposed to be paid honorarium, why did government not pay honorarium to these Panchs and Sarpanchs which was mandatory as per law?

If the Ministers of this government go anywhere to address public, they ensure that Panchs and Sarpanchs are invited to these meeting who in turn arrange public for them. But as per the law they Panchs and Sarpanchs are supposed to be paid fee for attending these meetings have they ever been paid? Let us not talk about their security which is big issue.

In Mufti Saheb’s rule, we held elections in notified areas but why these issues were not raised by the representatives who mostly belong to Srinagar city.  Because empowered them with devolution of powers besides providing more than required budgetary support. We provided them every facility and did not discriminate on the basis of their political affiliations.  So the representatives of notified areas were not an alienated lot nor were they discredited among their voters.

I am sorry not only the state government but the central government leadership at international level has been keen in portraying Panchayat elections of Jammu and Kashmir as a great political achievement and a verdict of people in country’s favour. This also made our Panchs and Sarpanchs vulnerable. 

 Assuming if the killings of Panchs and Sarpanchs have been a handiwork of militants which Omar Abdullah’s claims, why these attacks have been carried out only in PDP constituencies like Sangrama and Pattan?

Omar Abdullah has said defeated Panchs and Sarpanchs can be behind these killings. But most of the defeated Panchs and Sarpanchs belong to NC!

Second he says two Congress ministers objected to Block level elections that means he has violated oath of his office under which he had pledged to work without fear or favour. If so, Omar has failed to discharge his duty as per the oath of his office.

If two congress ministers objected to Block level elections, has he (Omar) reported to Sonia Gandhi because Saif-u-Din Soz says Omar has not informed him about the same.

By not naming the two Congress ministers, Omar has made every Congress minister a suspect in the eyes of people. If he has the moral courage he should name these two Congress ministers. 

I ask to Soz Saheb that Omar says Coordination Committee of the two coalition partners did not want holding o block level elections; if that is so pleas tell us have you ever raised the issue of holding such elections in the coordination committee meetings?

And why don’t Omar and his father Farooq Abdullah attend the Coordination committee meetings. Is it because the two think participation in these meetings under the chairmanship of Soz Saheb below their dignity? Is it also because that Soz had once upon a time worked under them in the party.

Immediately after declaration of results of Panchayat elections, threatening posters were fixed in South Kashmir particularly in PDP constituencies. Out of 16 MLAs we have 12 MLAs in South Kashmir.  We have solid figures available with us that out of a total of 17960 Panchayat representatives we got 8600 that means over 50 per cent of these representatives mostly belonging to South Kashmir.

 If this trend continues, it will have serious impact on future assembly parliamentary elections in the state. And lesser the participation of people in elections the easier will for any government to rig these elections.

 PDP does not want to create any differences among the two coalition partners but we want them best of luck till they work for the welfare of the people. We don’t want to be party to the differences among the two coalition partners.