PDP chief lashes out at 'incompetent' J&K leadership

The opposition PDP today alleged that the "incompetence of political leadership and mis-governance" were responsible of the prevailing financial crunch in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a meeting of the PDP's SC-OBC wing here, party patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said the present leadership's "inefficiency" has thrown the state into unprecedented financial crisis, and its gravity could be gauged from the fact that the government had failed to even arrange matching grants for various Centre-sponsored schemes.
"Instead of arranging matching grants to make the welfare schemes functional, the state government is more concerned about disbursing funds to its blue-eyed boys in irrational manner," he alleged.

He said the prevailing financial bankruptcy is depriving weaker sections of the benefits of various schemes.
"Others states are taking benefits of the revolutionary Centre-sponsored schemes meant for socio-economic growth of the weaker and marginalised sections of the society, but in J&K these schemes are defunct as the state government has failed to arrange even matching grants," he said.
The former Chief Minister regretted that ruling elites of the state were "more concerned about their own luxuries" than addressing the problems of the deserving lot of the society.

Mufti said educated unemployed youths were the worst victim of the prevailing financial bankruptcy in the state as the government did not have funds to create job opportunities.

"A whopping amount being spent to provide luxuries to ruling elites and mis-used on unproductive sectors could have been utilised properly to provide jobs to youths," he said.
"It is the result of prevailing financial anarchy in the state, and the government has even failed to secure normal plan funds from the Centre," he said, adding that during the previous financial year the Centre had forfeited Rs 1,300 crore of plan allocations for the state's inability to spend it properly in time.