Local officers should be posted to largest extent in J-K: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said that local officers should be posted to the largest extent in Jammu and Kashmir and accused the Centre of abrogating Article 370 "without preparation".

Participating in the debate on Jammu and Kashmir Reorgsation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in Lok Sabha, Chowdhury objected to the Centre bringing an ordinance to merge the existing cadre of Jammu and Kashmir with Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union territories (AGMUT) in respect of three All India services.

He said the cadre should be local because Jammu and Kashmir is a sensitive place where "people do not trust officialdom"

"This government is facing a trust deficit there. There is a lot of trust deficit and I suggest that posting local officers to the largest extent will be good for Jammu and Kashmir administration," he said.

Chowdhury said the government wants to "import" officers and they do not know the language of Jammu and Kashmir or its culture.

"The people who know the ground situation, who are acquainted with cultural roots, they should be entrusted these jobs," he said.

"You will accept that Article 370 was abrogated without preparation. If you had done it with preparation, then you would not have felt shortage of cadre after one-and-a-half years," he added.

The Congress leader said that normalcy has not returned to Jammu and Kashmir and "the dream shown after the abrogation of Article 370 has not been fulfilled".

"Business worth Rs 90,000 crore has been finished. We want you to tell us how will you improve things in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

He said the Union Home Minister had promised return of Kashmiri Pandits "but it has not been fulfilled".

The bill, which was later passed by voice vote, seeks to merge the Jammu and Kashmir cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers with that of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territory (AGMUT).

The bill was earlier passed by Rajya Sabha.

( With inputs from ANI )