MP Khatana appeals LG to increase number of vehicles for transhumance

Jammu, Sep 27: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rajya Sabha Engineer Gulam Ali Khatana Wednesday urged the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to increase the number of vehicles allotted to each district in Kashmir region for transhumance to facilitate tribal population to plains.

A number of people from the tribal population called MP Gulam Ali Khatana telephonically and narrated their woes due to sudden onset of winters and snowfall in upper reaches of Kashmir region. “They said that due to extreme cold, many of them have suffered loss of livestock,” Khatana said in a press statement.

“Acting immediately on the problems of nomadic tribes, MP Gulam Ali Khatana called Secretary Tribal Affairs Department Shahid Iqbal Choudhary; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Vijay Bidhuri and Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag to mitigate the problems of nomadic population and increase the number of vehicles for transportation of livestock,” the press statement mentioned. 

Secretary Tribal Affairs Shahid Iqbal Choudhary instructed the nodal officer of the department to immediately resolve the issue and also spoke to MD J&K State Transport Road Corporation to provide the number of vehicles projected by respective DCs.

Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag too asked ARTO, Anantnag to depute more vehicles for the district.

Nomadic population hailed the immediate intervention of MP Khatana to mitigate their sufferings. They also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s liberal approach towards Jammu and Kashmir and efforts to ameliorate the sufferings of the common masses, the statement added.