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| For NC, imposition of Jazia on Amarnath pilgrims a good step | | Road tax by NHAI | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 17: Provincial president National Conference, Jammu Province, who appears to be more loyal than the king, has expressed concern over the proposed move of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to levy user charges on vehicles plying on Jammu-Lakhanpur and Jammu-Udhampur stretch. He has advanced a number of arguments against the proposed move and urged the State Governor, NN Vohra, to see to it that NHAI doesn't levy user charges on vehicles plying on Jammu-Lakhanpur and Jammu-Udhampur stretch.
One of the arguments that he has advanced reads like this: "Jammu & Kashmir is essentially a pilgrim-cum-tourist state which needs special dispensation, especially in the wake of traumatic situation it has undergone over the years, but on the contrary the BJP-led government at the Centre was rushing to create problems for the people. Such a move is fraught with immense financial strain to the travelling public and goods carriers, which has potential of shooting the prices of essentials and thus impacting the common people adversely". "Instead of providing incentives to the visiting tourists and pilgrims, the Centre is creating obstacles in terms of making journeys cumbersome and costlier," he has also said. The question to be asked is: Where was he in 2010, when the NC-Congress coalition government imposed Jazia on the Amarnath pilgrims to hamper the whole pilgrimage in its desperate bid to pander to communalists in the Valley? He and others of his ilk didn't utter a word against the move of the NC-Congress coalition government. Perhaps, he, like others in the NC and other Kashmir-centric parties, including the Congress, considered the move a manifestation of secularism.
It bears recalling that a levy of Rs 15/- then from each Amarnath pilgrim for registration was not considered sufficient by the authorities. So, they had imposed a charge of Rs 2,800/- per day (earlier Rs 300/-) on the buses and trucks, and Rs 2300/- on light vehicles, carrying food supplies and pilgrims, in addition to the toll tax on entering the State of Jammu & Kashmir at Lakhanpur. The state government had not stopped at this. It had further sponsored the radicalization process by asking the Langar Committees, which constituted religious and social organization, to deposit a non-refundable sum of Rs 25,000/-! At the same time, the area on which the Langars were to run had been considerably reduced.
It appears the NC leader from Jammu province has two yardsticks - one for the Amarnath pilgrims and another for others. The fact of the matter is that his whole stand on the issue is not just lop-sided but also politically motivated.
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