Pulwama, Mar 7: The government’s failure to reconstruct the buildings of Rural Development Department, damaged during the 2010 unrest in Pulwama district has drawn flak from the locals.
 According to the inhabitants, these buildings are in complete ruins and give a devastating look. “The buildings, torched by angry protesters in the summer unrest of 2010 are in shambles and the authorities are turning blind eye towards them,” the locals said, adding that despite repeated pleas, the government has failed to start any reconstruction. 
 “There were six block development buildings which were burnt down by the protesters following the killing of some youth in the area. Out of these, two buildings including Panchayat- A and Block Development (BDO) residential quarter were under the control of Kakapora police,” the residents told Greater Kashmir.
 They said that other buildings include Community Information Centre (CIC), Block Development Officer office, Central Store and Food go down were also burnt down on August 2, 2010, adding three other structures, two of which belong to Forest Department and one of Jammu and Kashmir Police Department, were also torched by the same protesters at Mandi Kakapora.
 All these buildings except food go down were completely damaged, the residents said adding that other than these structures, a computer centre was also torched. “The overall loss of assets was estimated to be about Rs 75 lakh”.
 According to Block Development Officer Kakapora, Fayaz Ahmad Fayaz, the inhabitants of the area donated Rs three lakh for reconstruction of Community Information Centre, which they received from Railways as Kahcharai land compensation.
 “This money was used for repairing doors, windows and roof of CIC, which is presently the only building, where the work has been completed,” Fayaz said, adding the employees of the department were presently working inside the structure.
 BDO hailed the donations by Kakapora residents and appreciated their timely support. He said the department was functioning normally and space constraints were not affecting the employees work.
 However, according to locals, the government has failed to start the reconstruction work on other damaged buildings. “We made numerous representations to the senior functionaries of the district administration urging them to start the work on the buildings, but our pleas have fell on deaf ears,” the residents said.
 The people of the area sought the intervention of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah in this regard.
Compiled by Imtiyaz Sofi

Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Mar 2012 00:00:00 IST