Suhail Khan
Srinagar, August 28 (KINS): The local bureaucracy and contractors feel the heat as officers of Jammu and Kashmir are apparently given insignificant posting while non-local contractors are bagging majority of contracts for execution of works.
IAS and IPS officers from Jammu and Kashmir feel they are being sidelined from significant postings as non-local officers are holding plum postings in Jammu and Kashmir.
All key departments like Finance, Home, Power, and various important departments are headed by officers from outside Jammu and Kashmir.
Non-local officers are also holding top posts like Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Inspector General of Police Kashmir and Jammu.
Similarly, most posts of DCs and SSP are held by non-local officers in Kashmir.
A bureaucrat from Kashmir, wishing not to be quoted by name for fear of reprisal, said it was difficult for non-local officers to manage things in Jammu and Kashmir. “They (non-local officers) are culturally, socially, geographically different with the result that there remains a gap between bureaucracy and the public,” the officer told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service.
Another local bureaucrat said, “Non-local bureaucrats are holding all significant posts in Jammu and Kashmir. We have only one local bureaucrat who is holding an important portfolio of the education department.”
The August 5 decision last year also brought about a crucial change in the bureaucratic structure.
Earlier, in Jammu and Kashmir, 50 per cent of the total strength of officers was allocated by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) after clearing the UPSC, while 50 per cent local service officers were promoted as IAS officers.
In other states, 67% of the officers are direct recruits while only 33% are officers inducted from the state services. When Jammu and Kashmir lost special status, it also became subject to the 67:33 rule.
Similarly, for the first time ever, non-local companies have bagged a majority of contracts for the extraction of minerals from the water bodies of Kashmir.
More than 200 mineral blocks in river Jhelum and its tributaries across 10 districts of Kashmir were opened for auction for mining of sand, boulders, and other river bed material in December last.
Non-local contractors have bagged a majority of the mineral blocks.
Till last year, the rights for extraction of the minerals were exclusively reserved with local contractors.(KINS)
