The residents of Gurez and Tulail areas of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district Tuesday alleged that successive regimes have completely neglected them and these areas according to them lack basic amenities of life. They said that so many Chief Minister’s visited these border area’s with a promise to uplift them, but till date nothing concrete has been done to mitigate the sufferings of the people.A delegation from Sub-Division Gurez and Tulail Tehsil led by a senior tribal leader Mir Hamidullah told CNS that successive regimes made too many promises to the people, but none of those promise were fulfilled. “A former Chief Minister had advised power department to start work on 1.5 MW Power Project besides series of micro projects to cater to the needs of the area. He also had said that the area is famous for potato production and had also advised industry department to explore the feasibility of introducing potato chips producing units in the area by introducing special incentive for industrialists. He also had announced special block for Tulail. He had further said the area has been ignored so far as development of telecommunication infrastructure is concerned and had promised that he would take up this issue with concerned authorities. But unfortunately none of the promises made by a former Chief Minister have been given practical shape. The common people are still waiting to see if their demands are fulfilled,” the delegation said.
They said that there is zero industrial activity in Gurez valley due to the absence of 24-hour power supply. “In fact there is no power supply at all and there are few diesel generators which provide power to some parts of Gurez in summers and that too for only few hours.The local from Gurez said that there is heavy snowfall during winters and Razdhaan Pass remains closed due to this for at least 7 months from November to May every year, thus cutting off the Gurez Valley from the rest world for about 7 months. “This could have been avoided if a tunnel would have been built on the pattern of Jawahar Tunnel. If government can construct a 21 km tunnel for the diversion of the Kishenganga River then it’s also possible to construct such a tunnel for traffic purposes. Road leading to Gurez is maintained by Beacon, but the widening and repairs of this road is at very low ebb. Proper Supervision of authorities is needed in this regard.”“Medical facilities are lacking. Every year many precious lives are lost in this area because of the poor medical infrastructure and lack of adequate medical staff. The problem gets worse during winters as there is no escape route available,” the delegation said.They further said that SDM posted in their area has been transferred since long back and the post has been filled by in-charge SDM who does not have any kind of powers. “It seems we have been living in Stone-Age era. Politicians visit the area during election time and once government gets formed, they did not show their face for years,” the delegation said. (CNS)