PM's visit will give new pace to development in J&K: AJKPC

Pinning high hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to the state, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) today said that the visit would set a new pace for development projects across the state.
"We are pinning high hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Jammu and Kashmir on November 7. It would give a new pace to development projects across the state," AJKPC President, Anil Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma expressed confidence that the Prime Minister's visit would create an atmosphere of unification and integration in all three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
The AJKPC President, on behalf of 33,000 elected Panchayat members in Jammu and Kashmir, said they were also expecting positive developments regarding empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the state.

"Although the coalition partners, BJP-PDP, in their agenda of alliance, have promised decentralisation of decision making powers to Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations, it is yet to be implemented on the ground", he said.
The leader said elections of Rural Local Bodies and Urban Local Bodies should be conducted in the state only after incorporation of the 73rd and 74th amendments in the J&K Panchayat Raj Act, 1989.

"It would be futile to conduct elections without incorporating these important provisions," he said, adding that the previous NC-Congress government cheated the people and the elected panchayat members.
"We are hopeful that the same mischief will not be repeated by the ruling dispensation," he said.

The amendments grant constitutional status to elected rural local bodies, provide for direct elections to all seats, give mandatory reservation for Dalits and tribals in proportion to their share of the panchayat population and one-third reservation to women.
The panchayat leader said, "Modi and Mufti are men of words and there is no reason not to believe that there is a written agreement on empowering PRIs".
He also said security of elected Panchayat members in the state remained a major concern.
"Over a dozen elected Panchs and Sarpanchs have been killed by terrorists and many others seriously injured since May 2011. We are hopeful that the Prime Minister would direct the state machinery to take care of security of Panchayat members in vulnerable areas," Sharma added.