Broken promises: Declared town in 2006, Devsar sees no sign of development
'Govt should rollback its decision, declare our area a village'
Kulgam: Resentment is brewing among residents of Devsar area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir against the successive regimes for their failure to provide basic town like facilities in the area.
To express their resentment, the residents including females on Monday staged a protest at main Chowk Devsar over the government failure to provide health and other facilities in the “town.”
“This area was given town status in 2006 but on ground we still have facilities like a far off village. Declaring this area as a town was mere an eye wash because we did not see any sign of development here,” said Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of Devsar.
The protesting residents said the area sans a Degree College, Block Medical Officer and other important facilities in the area.
“We are living in a forest area, we don’t deserve and need town status if the government cannot provide us town-like facilities,” he said.
The protesting residents said the area was given status of a town only for installation of power metres and submission of water fees.
“Apart from charging hefty amounts of electricity fees and drinking water charges, this area seems to be missing on the developmental map,” the residents said.
Taking a dig at the government, the locals demanded that the authorities should wind up the municipality from the area saying that it failed to bring any change on ground during the past many years.
“People in the area belong to a financially weaker section and we cannot afford hefty fees charged for electricity and water supply,” the residents said.
The protestors, including women, raised slogans and demanded intervention from the central government in this regard.
The protest was attended by several local leaders, PRIs and other workers of different parties.
Mohammad Abdullah an elderly person from the area, said there was no benefit of getting town status for the area. “Instead our life has been made hell,” he said.
The residents urged the authorities to look into the matter at an earliest and take necessary steps in the larger interests of the public.
Jahangeer Ganaie
