Peeved over the failure of the government to pay the honorarium to the members of the VDCs across Jammu region for the past several years, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh Chairman-JKNPP & former Minister staged a dharna in Jammu today seeking justice for the aggrieved Members of various village Defence Committees across the UT. While expressing his concern over the miserable plight of VDCs, he accused the Saffron Party of treating the VDC members as ‘throwaways’ after being used by it for promoting its political interests.
Addressing the media, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh pointed out that with an aim to contain the activities of militants in rural and remote areas and to ensure security and safety of the identified villages, the Village Defence Committees (VDCs) in the erstwhile State had been constituted in the mountainous and remote hamlets since 1996. When the militancy in J&K was at its peak and authorities were unable to protect the lives and properties in far-off villages, several people, especially the youth took the initiative and enrolled themselves as VDC members to safeguard their community from militant attacks, Harsh divulged. Revealing statistics, he said there were 4248 VDCs functioning in 10 districts of Jammu region with almost 25000 people working as members. “There are normally eight members including three SPOs in each VDC with an internal arrangement that the honorarium paid to the SPOs has to be equally distributed among all the members of the committee. When the revised honorarium started to get transferred into the accounts of SPOs directly instead of cash, the VDC Members were deprived of their wages. This is the flaw in the system which has marginalized the members of the VDCs despite their sincere continuance with the duty to protect their people from the brunt of terror attacks”, regretted Harsh. He said while SPOs deserved adequate salary as well as regularization policy in view of 24 hours duty, the arrears of VDCs needed to be cleared without any further delay. Both SPOs and VDCs have made great sacrifices for restoration of peace and normalcy in the erstwhile State, said Singh.
Lambasting the BJP for discarding the VDC members to languish and yell on roads for their wages despite they still performing their duties, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said the nationalist people who rose to the occasion to become protective shield of the people, were used by the Saffron party in its election campaigns for political gains. He regretted that after assuming power it ruthlessly ignored and disregarded them like disposable commodities. “The exploitation did not end here. The VDC members who were placed under BPL and provided ration under AAY were mercilessly divested of the facilities after these were withdrawn by the previous BJP-PDP government. Even their children entitled for scholarships under BPL category were also left in lurch and made to suffer. They have not been paid honorarium for several years. There have been bitter instances when VDC members succumbed to the miseries and ended their lives. Why the true patriots were forced to take such extreme steps? BJP owes an explanation to the people”, anguished Harsh rued.
Calling upon the Lt. Governor to take cognizance of the sacrifices made by the VDCs for more than two decades, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh asserted that the deprived members perform similar duties as SPOs and as such they also need to be adequately paid for their services. “Their pending wages which have remained unpaid for years should be immediately released. The facilities which were withdrawn from them should also be restored in their favour without any delay. They are the real heroes, brave hearts and the saviours of the people. Their sacrifices should be acknowledged with dignity and honour. Panthers Party shall not relent unless they were restored with their rights and justice”, roared Harsh.