Jammu, 15 January (H.S.): JKPCC working president and former minister Raman Bhalla today continued his extensive mass contact programme across various areas of the RS Pura-Jammu South constituency, holding direct interactions with people from diverse sections of society to assess their everyday problems and aspirations.

Bhalla’s outreach programme witnessed massive public participation to voice concerns amid growing dissatisfaction with prevailing administrative and civic conditions. During interactions, Bhalla observed that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are grappling with multiple unresolved issues that have collectively eroded their quality of life.

He stated that rising unemployment, shrinking livelihood opportunities, inflation, and deteriorating basic services have placed an unbearable burden on households, particularly in rural, border, and semi-urban areas. He remarked that the absence of responsive and accountable governance has deepened public alienation and frustration.

Expressing serious concern over frequent unscheduled power cuts, Bhalla said that erratic electricity supply during the prevailing nail-biting cold has made daily life extremely difficult. He pointed out that prolonged outages have forced families to endure harsh winter nights without heating, while students struggle to study and small traders suffer business losses. Hospitals, clinics, and essential services are also adversely affected, compounding the misery of patients and healthcare workers.

Bhalla pointed out that despite repeated assurances and tall claims, there has been no tangible improvement in power infrastructure, transmission capacity, or distribution management. He attributed the situation to poor planning, weak monitoring, and lack of accountability, which have resulted in avoidable hardship for the public. Senior citizens, children, and chronically ill patients, are paying the highest price for administrative apathy.

Highlighting other pressing public concerns, the PCC leader drew attention to inadequate and irregular water supply, dilapidated road networks, poor drainage systems, and growing sanitation issues. He also raised alarm over delays in addressing public grievances, arbitrary decision-making, and the lack of effective local-level administration. He claimed that unemployment among youth, insecurity among workers, weakening of welfare schemes, and rising cost of living have created deep economic distress in the JKUT.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar