I N D I A V O T E S

Border belt cries for care
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Sunderbani (Rajouri), April 3
Political parties in Jammu & Kashmir may have “used” the issue of the Amarnath land transfer to garner votes in the recent Assembly elections, but this plank won’t work in the coming parliamentary poll.

Realising that politicians use emotive issues just for their petty benefits, people in this border township and its adjoining areas like Kalakote and Nowshera have now decided to vote for only those candidates who will give priority to development.

Notably, in the Assembly poll, BJP and PDP were the main beneficiaries, especially in the Jammu and Kashmir provinces due to the controversial issue. Even as the previous Congress-led coalition government announced colleges across the state, residents here say their area was completely ignored. District status for Sunderbani is another important issue in this border belt, which has also been repeatedly demanding a trauma hospital.

“Our area is quite backward. We needed a degree college at Sunderbani, but the previous government announced the facility at Nowshera which is more than 70 kms from here. Also, eight new districts were carved out, but our area was again kept out of the loop,” says Sham Lal Sharma, a resident of Devak and a farmer. Another resident Chander Mohan Sharma said their area was highly accident prone and there was an immediate need for setting up of a trauma hospital.

“Since independence we have not seen much development in our area. We will vote for a candidate who takes care of our needs,” says the man, who is also a social worker.