‘Kashmir house’ Chandigarh in oblivion, State Govt. pays no heed

Kashmir Media Watch
Exclusive
Srinagar: One of the major reasons for the poor economic condition of the state of J&K has been the lack of interest of the politicians and the bureaucrats concerned to manage and cache in from the few main industries that the Govt. claims could play as pillars for the rise of a strong economy of Kashmir. Many such institutions which could play a positive role in strengthening the economy of Kashmir have been neglected for decades altogether, showing utter apathy of Govt. towards those institutions and consequently the development of J&K.
As such, an institution amongst hundreds if not thousands similar ones which have been neglected and need immediate Govt. attention and action, is the ‘Kashmir House’ in Chandigarh which has been clearly neglected and treated step motherly since its inception. The said ‘House’ is a double storey building with only 6 rooms and spread over 8 Kanals of land to cater to the needs of thousands of the people from J&K who go there mainly for treatment purposes and can’t afford to stay in the hotels. The infrastructure over there has never been renovated or updated since its inception. Not even a single curtain has been changed since the time it started functioning, which is sound enough a statement to gauge the grim picture of an asset of the J & K State called ‘KASHMIR HOUSE’
HISTORY:-
The land of the said House was donated by Mr. Pratap Singh Kiro during his Chief Minister-ship of Punjab way back in 1954 to Mr. G.A.Bakshi, the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the latter donated the same to the people of J&K and afterwards the proposal of the construction of Kashmir House on the said land was materialized and was subsequently inaugurated on its completion in April 1985 by the then Chief Minister of J&K Mr. G.M.Shah. The irony is that since that time this precious asset of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in such an important and expensive city of India has never been looked after with care and has never been given any heed by the successive State Govts. for its renovation and betterment, so as to make it beneficial for the people.
POINTS OF CONCERN:-
The Govt. apathy towards it can be gauged from the fact that the present strength of the staff in the ‘House’ is only 6 which comprises of a waiter, a cook, a sweeper, a chowkidar, a housekeeper and an orderly functioning under the supervision of the Resident Representative of the House Mrs. Beedushi Kapoor. Mrs. Bidushi Kapoor is very generous and kind towards the patients of Jammu and Kashmir who come all along from far-flung areas of the State for the treatment. She maintains the House in an efficient manner and hospitality in the house is extra-ordinary.
Due to the thin strength of the employees over there, poor infrastructure with no fund allocation for its renovation plus the heavy influx of the visitors, the staffers despite their laborious endeavors can’t cater to the needs of the visitors completely and have to suffer an immense workload. In addition to all this the overloaded staff has no provisions for their accommodation and are also given only 15% of their basic salary further exasperating their problems and concerns.
Many patients hailing from J&K visiting the place for treatment also lamented about the problems they have to face because of the poor conditions of the ‘House’, upon interview. Another chink in the armour remains that due to very heavy pressure on the Spartan guest house plus the political pressure, often the more deserving people (mainly poor and uninfluential patients) have to abandon the place to reel under further oblivion. Many civil society elements and human rights activists when intimated about the issue maintained that the Govt. ought to address the issue including expansion and updating of the infrastructure, in order to benefit and ease the people in general and patients in particular. They say we will be constrained to file a PIL in the ‘court of law’ wherein Chief Minister and the officers concerned would be made party. They also warned that the Govt. should take cognizance and due action against some other properties of the state over there which have been poached upon by some influential chunk of people. Mr. Muzaffar Ahmad Shah, Vice President of Awami National Conference. (Son of Mr. G.M.Shah, Ex-Chief Minister of J & K) while commenting on this issue said the he will take up this issue with the Government so that the poor patients of State will be benefited. He further said that his worthy father had made it clear in his speech during the inauguration of the House that this House will benefit poor patients in particular.