Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 27: Senior member of Jammu Editors Guild (JEG) and Editor of Journey Line A K Sawhney, has said that bureaucratic rule has to end for people to get heard.
Talking to reporters after a ceremony organized by Editors Guild of Jammu to commemorate Republic Day here, Sawhney said, “Our Lieutenant Governor is from Uttar Pradesh and his Personal Assistants too are from UP. Three people are taking decisions at the behest of bureaucrats. They are unaware about the ground situation, ”
Sawhney said, “For the past three and a half years bureaucrats have been placed on our heads and they have been taking arbitrary decisions and imposing these on the people.”
He said, “The recent announcement of empowering Sarpanchs to give permissions for construction of residential houses in rural areas is no empowerment. Sarpanch is the only elected member of the committee authorized to give permission; others are all officials.”
He said that now even if a poor villager wants to construct a washroom or a cowshed, he would have to seek permission from the committee of the officials in which Sparpanch has been included. “The power will remain with the officials, while the Sarpanch has been included to claim that grass root institutions are being empowered. Is this the panchayat empowerment the government is talking about?” Sawhney asked.
He said, “Bureaucrats want to claim that they have empowered panchayats but someone needs to tell them Patwaris, SDMs and DCs are not elected representatives. If they really want to give power to panchayats, they should authorize elected members to take a final call without official interference.”
Referring to the recent act enacted by the government to change the > 3 people take decisions at behest of bureaucrats
> Advertisements of media houses blocked for raising voice
> Now people in villages will have to seek permission for building washrooms, cowsheds
> Bureaucratic rule a failure, democracy needs to be restored
> Grievance cells lying defunct, no one answers calls
Sawhney said that the Editors Guild has approached the government on many occasions to seek insurance cover for the working journalists but till date nothing has happened. “We have decided to provide insurance cover to all the journalists working with Jammu based media organizations without waiting for the government to help.
He demanded an end to bureaucratic rule. “The Delimitation Commission should submit its report so that elections are held and J&K’s statehood is restored. J&K people are fed up with bureaucratic rule. Many are saying that it was easier to get rid of the East India Company but it’s difficult to get rid of these bureaucrats. No one is accessible to people and any media house which tries to raise its voice is threatened and its advertisements are blocked. This attitude of the government has to change,” Sawhney added.
Referring to the grievance cells set up by the government, he said, “Bureaucratic rule has proved to be a big failure. People are tired of sending applications to grievance cells but there has been no response from the other side. The calls on widely publicized phone numbers of grievance cells go unanswered. We want this rule to end and democracy to be restored.” | 