Jammu: Peoples Democratic Party president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday alleged that the union government put resources of Jammu and Kashmir on open sale bringing economy of the erstwhile state at the brink of collapse.
“From power projects to the sand mining sector, everything was being auctioned by the present dispensation under a planned conspiracy to smash our economy to smithereens,” Mehbooba said adding that the impact of this administrative onslaught had already shown its impact.
Unlike rest of the country, she said, Jammu and Kashmir was passing through the third consecutive year of lockdown in view of massive curbs put in place at peak of economic season in August 2019. “While curfews and lockdowns caused serious dent to the economy, series of administrative orders and laws came a shock to that and were playing havoc across the erstwhile state,” she further alleged.
The PDP president was interacting with party deputations from Chenab Valley, during her ongoing tour of the region, here today.
Chenab Valley, she said, was facing the worst impact of the sell-out by the union government as even the power projects which the state was capable of undertaking itself had now been handed over to NHPC. “Ratle power project is an example where the state owned Power Development Corporation was self sufficient to undertake the project but it was handed over to the joint consortium that too by minimising the share of JKPDC,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti added that the basic eligibility criterion for the contractors was also changed and compact tenders were being floated in order to deprive the local contractors to participate in the process. “The local construction companies and contractors are now forced to work on sub-lease patterns for the outside companies, who are utilizing manpower, resources, machinery of locals to fill their coffers,” she alleged.