JKPCC Slams Government Over Jammu Water Crisis and Paper Leaks Demands Early Local Polls

​JAMMU, May 30 — Senior leaders of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee have expressed deep concern over the severe power and water crises gripping the Jammu region, alongside an unprecedented price hike on essential commodities.

The party has urged the administration to take immediate steps to alleviate public suffering and ensure development remains people-centric. In the absence of elected Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies, Block Development Councils, and District Development Councils, Congress leaders demanded that the general public be actively involved through Gram Sabhas to finalize local development plans and keep the process inclusive.​

During a press conference at the party headquarters in Jammu, senior functionaries including Working President Raman Bhalla, Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, PCC Headquarters Incharge Ved Mahajan, senior leader Manmohan Singh, and Chief Media Coordinator Neeraj Gupta argued that local development has become MLA-centric rather than people-oriented.

They stated that the utilization of funds is currently left to the sole discretion of lawmakers, which leaves out many sections and areas that may not be a priority for the sitting representative.​The leaders also heavily criticized the central government, accusing it of failing on multiple fronts and compromising the future of students and young job seekers. They highlighted frequent paper leaks in prestigious national examinations and competitive recruitments as a major failure of the current administration.

Pointing to the supreme court’s recent demands for systemic accountability, the party called for the resignation of the education minister and noted that numerous recruitment scams within the Union Territory have left local youth deeply frustrated.​Addressing the delayed local body polls, the Congress leaders stated that elections for all basic public institutions should be conducted as soon as possible, following the finalization of Other Backward Classes reservations in line with existing provisions for women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes.

Until those elections occur, they stressed that yearly development plans must be transparent and involve the wider public so that large segments of the population are not deprived of basic amenities.​The party further questioned the current stance of the government and the State Election Commission regarding the delimitation of District Development Council constituencies and the rationalization of municipal ward populations.

They pointed out that some local council boundaries now confusingly overlap across two separate assembly constituencies because the assembly delimitation took place after the council seats were initially created. The leaders demanded that any restructuring of political boundaries be kept fully transparent, impartial, and under the direct supervision of the election commission, while also calling for a review of paused recruitment processes to open up fresh employment opportunities.