Govt is ignoring interests of people of Gurez: Deputy speaker

Accusing the government of neglecting the interests of the people of Gurez, Deputy speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly Nazir Ahmed Gurezi today said that the PDP-BJP coalition has slashed relief and rehabilitation package meant for his constituency.
"This is an anti-tribal attitude of the present BJP-PDP government as they have slashed the relief and rehabilitation package announced by the Central government for the people of Gurez who have given their land for the construction of Kishan Ganga Dam", he told reporters here today.
Gurezi who represents the Gurez assembly constituency said that the central government had approved a package of Rs 274 crore for the relief and rehabilitation of the people affected by the dam, but the state government slashed the package to Rs 174 crore and returned the remaining amount to the state government.

"The people are suffering as they have not been adequately compensated; the government seems to be least worried about the problems being faced by them.
He said that the people of Gurez were also facing the apathy of the state government as no all weather road link connects the area with rest of the state.
"Kishan Ganga project will earn around Rs 750 crore annually and I was expecting that the government will announce a tunnel between Bandipore and Gurez to compensate the loss to the tribal community as there are no inherent benefits to the Gurez area which also has tremendous strategic importance", he said.