J-K Governor expresses satisfaction over completion of local bodies poll

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik expressed satisfaction Wednesday over the successful completion of the local bodies polls and said it was not his duty to "satisfy" politicians.

The state recently had four-phase urban local bodies polls and nine-phase panchayat elections.

Major regional parties -- the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party -- had decided not to participate in the local bodies polls.

Malik said the situation in the state has marked an improvement and is near normal, but expressed displeasure over the "negative publicity" of Kashmir by national media.

"I am not here to satisfy them (politicians). Personally, I respect them, and interestingly I might be the first governor who jumped his protocol and had tea with both of them (former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti)," he told reporters.

He said he had no political agenda and his mandate was development, outreach, interaction and addressing the grievances of the people with sincerity.

Asked about his views on the prevailing situation in the state, he said, "I see a lot of improvement and consider the situation as near normal".

"We had nine-phases of panchayat elections (November 17 to December 12) and four phases of municipal elections (in October) and with the grace of god, cooperation of the people and alertness of forces, not a single sparrow was harmed which is a good thing," he said.

He said the good things happening in Kashmir are not mentioned at the national media which needs to be changed.

"A minor incident is projected in a wrong way to demonise Kashmir and show it in a bad light. I safely say that as the governor of Bihar and coming from UP, Jammu and Kashmir is a better place than these," he said.

He said there was no mention of the polls at national media while on the other hand, had a bird got hurt during these polls, it would have made headline.

On his war against corruption in the state, he said his administration was focused on the eradication of corruption and had set up an anti-corruption bureau.

On the delay in construction of underground bunkers for the safety of people living near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch and Rajouri districts, he assured that the construction work will start soon.

"The work on the construction of bunkers will start soon as the Union Home Ministry has given its nod to our proposal," he said.

He said the panchayats will get Rs 2,500 crore for development works while the municipalities will get Rs 1,500 crore.

A sarpanch would be entitled to spend Rs 65,000 to Rs 1.25 crore.

"The elections were meant to empower the people," he said, adding this would help the politicians to come closer to the people.

These elections would also facilitate emergence of new leadership. "The successful conclusion of polls is a good thing which had happened and I salute the administration, the Army and other security forces besides those who came out to vote despite threats".

He said his administration had asked the deputy commissioners to set aside one day per week to redress public grievances.

He said his administration is focusing on building infrastructure for sports activities.

"Our football team, Real Kashmir, has jumped up the table after registering a win yesterday.

"Deputy commissioners have been asked to identify land for playfields across the state, 500 auditoriums are getting completed while one international standard stadium each in Srinagar and Jammu are in the final stages of completion," he said.