National Conference (NC) Friday welcomed the order of the High Court quashing the circular issued by the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Kashmir, mandating the vehicle owners to re-register their vehicles purchased from outside J&K, saying the measure had brought respite to the people.
In a statement issued here, NC spokesman Imran Nabi Dar welcomed the order saying: “The government circular on re-registration was an unnecessary burden imposed on the people. Our party had sought exception of toll tax on re-registration of outside vehicles, urging the government to address the actual road blocks towards ensuring hassle-free traffic on roads in J&K. However the administration had turned blind eyes to our pleas ignoring the enormous burden that the circular would have put on the people. The court in its capacity as the guardian of the constitution and individual rights has made a valid and accurate observation and quashed the circular.”
He said that far from shouldering the burden of the people to tide over the rampage induced by the COVID-19 crisis since 2020, the incumbent government had left no stone unturned to burden people with taxes and tolls of different hues.
“Such irrational circulars won’t help the government deal with the traffic mess but would only amplify the already existing traffic chaos,” Dar said. “The best way to deal with the traffic mess is to augment the existing road infrastructure in J&K to meet the ever-increasing demands of the people.”
He said that the work on the construction of the ring-road in Srinagar was yet to see the light of the day.
“The ambitious road project was supposed to ease traffic movement on highways and facilitate hassle-free inter-district movement. Unfortunately, there has been no headway on the project other than the foundation laying way back in 2018. It was also announced that Srinagar city would go metro sooner with a light rail system having 25 km length which included 12.5 km length from Indira Nagar to HMT junction, and 12.5 km length from Hazuribagh to Osmanabad with 24 stations on each corridor. The much-touted idea didn’t live to the hype. There is no abuzz on the project either and it seems it has also met with the same end as most of other mega transport projects have of late,” Dar said.
He also took strong exception to the newly-announced result of J&K Bank’s Banking Associate exams, saying the results reveal regional prejudice.
Dar said that of the 1500 aspirants only 200 qualified the exam from Kashmir division.
While questioning the results he said that the youngsters of Kashmir had outshone their counterparts elsewhere in the country by qualifying highly-prestigious exams and that the low-qualifying percentage of aspirants from Kashmir was inconceivable.
Dar sought an impartial probe into the entire scheme of exam so that the reality was brought forth.
He said that the results had disheartened the most meritorious aspirants who had burnt midnight oils to qualify the exam.