Accusing the J&K State government of dragging its feet on the commitment made by it over two months ago to the victims of Kishtwar riots of August 9, BJP National Executive Member & J&K Chief Spokesperson Dr. Jitendra Singh said here today that leave alone the compensation based on assessment of inpidual losses as promised, the government has so far not even come forth with the disbursing of immediate relief announced by it.Dr Jitendra Singh said,on the other hand, there is tremendous harassment in the name of compensation and as an evidence,he cited the order issued by ADC Kishtwar vide No:- 189-203/DCK/Gen/2013 dated 28-09-2013,wherein each victim will be required to fulfill 9 formalities before claiming the relief. These include,he elaborated, an affidavit duly attested by the Judicial Magistrate stating therein that they shall be personally responsible for providing any wrong information regarding value of goods damaged and shall be liable for penalties and recoveries; copy of Annual Return; copy of Quarterly VAT; copy of Final Statement; copy of Lay out Plan; copy of Form-C; copy of Income Tax Return; copy of CA's balance sheet and sale purchase bills.
The question is, Dr Jitendra Singh asked, what is the real motive of this ridiculous procedure...to provide relief or to deny relief, because any sensible person would understand that a trader who could not save his establishment and other valuables, could have hardly been able to save each of these documents.Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that the decision with regard to this was taken during a meeting of committee framed by Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar with ADC Kishtwar, ACR Kishtwar, Tehsildar Kishtwar and Padder as its members. The committee was ostensibly framed by the administration for speedy disposal of ex-gratia relief cases but the tediously long procedure followed by it has defeated its very purpose, he added.Dr. Jitendra Singh also took exception to the manner in which the government was casually pursuing the issue of probe into the August 9incidents and reiterated that the BJP is committed to carry forward the Kishtwar issue to its logical conclusion, and will not allow the vested interests to use it as an alibi to disband or weaken the Village Defence Committees (VDCs).