Jammu, October 29: Yet another controversy and yet another jolt to the development scenario in Jammu region which has been bearing the brunt of official lethargy for the past six decades to keep it several notches down the Kashmir.
While it will be still premature to comment on the new controversy that has grappled the new government as several versions are coming out on daily basis what Jammuites are concerned is that yet another project might be sacrificed at the altar of the political games being played in the Jammu and Kashmir state.
The time demands that while the controversy surrounding the solar energy project in Kathua continues the project as conceived should not be put on hold even if that means retendering the same and inviting fresh bids in time bound manner so that a precious project conceived for Jammu is not dumped for several years till the controversy is resolved which hardly may happen.
While there are several versions regarding the project it is complete transparency that will work for the government if it really wants to accelerate the development in Jammu and Kashmir.
Names and companies don’t matter but projects do and if decision making is put on fast track the project can be re-advertised to let fresh bidders participate in a transparent manner and the job allotted to the most deserving.
Another facet that has added to the controversy is why a project worth several crores goes to a Kashmiri and why any Jammuite has not benefited as they have the first right over it as claimed by Adil that he owns the land.
The allegations against the Kashmir origin director of the company are also of serious nature and it will be in the fitness of things that this contract is cancelled and fresh contract advertised within days and let the businessmen of Jammu and Kashmir participate in their respective regions so that another angle of regional bias is not added to the controversy.
The problem with J&K is that anything you do here becomes illegal or controversial due to strange and obsolete laws and Politico-bureaucratic nose-poking in every affair.
At the same time this also needs to be ascertained how the previous government awarded the contract to a person who is allegedly a known fraudster and how he procured so much of land when the allegations reveal that his worth is in lakhs and has been selling forms worth hundreds to collect money by befooling the public.
In all this controversy it is the common Jammuite who will bear the brunt by losing another mega project in the region.
The government needs to investigate the allegations seriously and the sooner a probe is ordered the better it is but for that the government does not need to withhold the solar power project as this can be easily cancelled and retendered to bring transparency and let the development in Jammu continue at faster pace.
The voices that have started raising their pitch since the director of the company addressed a press conference in Kashmir is that while till now it was considered as another scam or controversy involving huge money the origin of the director of the company has added the regional politics in it with Jammuites asking why and how a Kashmiri was allotted such a big project in Jammu which means that both the solar power projects conceived for J&K would be run by Kashmiris and Jammuites will still be left high and dry.
It is therefore in the interest of the government, political setup, bureaucracy and the people of the state in general that government retenders the projects and adds the strict clause of time limit for both the government as well as the executers besides allotting projects to the business men of the respective regions.
The allegations of serious nature against the director of the company also need immediate investigation and trial to ascertain how a person from Kashmir has been looting Jammuites for several years and attain such political clout that he is allotted a big power project by the people who now question the credentials of the new government even though it was their term when the project was actually allotted to a tainted person.
The investigating agencies need to probe every angle and come out with facts before the issue attains a big political and regional issue while Jammuites too must get together and ensure that such controversies do not result in halting the precious projects and the government is forced to initiate the projects while the controversies and investigations continue as the project is yet to be executed and legally government is free to re-advertise it in the public interest.
Hope better sense prevails and Jammuites get a better deal.