Srinagar, Feb 11 (KNS) : A Facebook post by ruling National Conference MLA Javed Hassan Baigh has kicked up a political storm, with opposition parties and civil society groups in Bandipora accusing the party of brazenly admitting that developmental projects are distributed not on merit but as political favours.

 

Baigh, in his post, credited former DDC Chairperson Safina Beigh for ensuring that the newly-sanctioned Ayurvedic Medical College was located in Baramulla district rather than in Bandipora or Kupwara. “It was sanctioned for north Kashmir and Safina ji wanted it to be established in Baramulla. The institution started functioning in a building in Highgam and now land for it has been identified in Amargarh, which is also in Baramulla. We should be thankful to Safina ji who ensured that it didn’t go to Bandipora or Kupwara,” he wrote.

 

What may have been intended as a Sopore-Baramulla thanksgiving has been interpreted in Bandipora as an official confession of systematic neglect. The district, hived off from Baramulla in 2007, is now the only parliamentary constituency segment in Kashmir without a medical college, nursing college, university campus or centrally-funded technical institute.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel

 

“This is not a slip of the tongue. This is an admission that planning boards and objective criteria mean little when it comes to distributing public goods,” a former legislator from Bandipora told news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS).

 

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented the J&K Budget 2026-27 last week, totalling ?1.35 lakh crore, with AYUSH expansion highlighted as a key policy thrust. While Sopore celebrated the new college and Kathua welcomed a Homeopathic College, Bandipora was left out once again.

 

On the ground, resentment is palpable. A group of senior citizens gathered in the town centre, with some residents using the slogan “Hamari vote, unki jageer” — our votes, their estate.

 

“First they collect votes from us, then they collect institutions for others,” one of them said.

 

A retired headmaster put it more bluntly: “We don’t even get the crumbs. And here is our own MLA celebrating that the crumbs were diverted away from us.” (KNS)