Interlocutors visit Udhampur

Srinagar: Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress from Jammu’s Udhampur district Tuesday discussed a wide range of issues including delimitation and alleged discrimination during their meeting with the three interlocutors appointed by New Delhi on Kashmir.

The three interlocutors—  veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, academician Radha Kumar and former Chief Information Commissioner M.M. Ansari— arrived at the DC hall, Udhampur at 11:30 a.m today from Jammu, where they held meetings with the political leaders.

Chief spokesman of BJP’s state unit, Dr Jatinder Singh said the interlocutors assured  to look into  discrimination, delimitation and other issues during the meeting.

“Dileep Padgoankar told us that he has already asked the central government to provide him with the latest data on the allocation of funds for various districts and provinces of the state so that he can work on it and form an opinion,” Singh said.

During their interaction with the interlocutors, a team of District Congress Committee, Udhampur led by president, Bhupinder Singh Pathania, and senior Congress leader from Udhampur, Brij Mohan Sharma, demanded equitable delimitation in Jammu province. According to a statement, the Congress leaders said that the population and area of Jammu was comparatively more as compared to the assembly segments in Kashmir province but the number of its representatives in Assembly is less. “The sector-wise expenditure in Jammu is comparatively lesser whereas in the field of revenue generation, the figures in Jammu are comparatively higher as compared to those in Kashmir,” they said, while demanding creation of three more assembly segments in the district—Landar-Panchari, Majalta and Dudu-Basantgarh.

“The leaders also demanded fresh Tehsils for Basantgarh and Panchari, Degree Colleges at Chenani and Majalta,” the statement said.

The three interlocutors also met a delegation of Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party led by party president and MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia MLA.