With coffers empty, J&K Congmen beg for their pay

The building, near famous Lal Chowk area in the heart of the city, may not be with the party for long as several attempts have been made by one Shia Auqaf to usurp it, claiming proprietary right over this awful looking double-storeyed structure which provides at least shelter to the beleaguered party. Having failed in the extra-legal way, the Trust has gone to the Court. And now the party has suspended Moulvi IftikharHussain Ansari for joining Dr Farooq Abdullah Government. Chaudhari Mohammed Aslam has yet not arrived here after being appointed PCC chief of Jammu and Kashmir unit but would he be able to bring any change in the physical set-up and conditions of the people who have devoted almost their entire life to the party? This is the main question in the minds of the Congressmen. The PCC has no funds at all, all the records and account books have surreptitiously been handed over to Ansari. There is no means to know who actually had got away with what.

The AICC, as remembered by the leaders and staff members, had sent about 75 jeeps including a few Ambassador cars over the years but now there is no trace of them except one jeep being used by former PCC chief Ghulam Rasool Kar. “I have one jeep but do not know about the other vehicles,” he says.

Trying to recollect, he says that some of the jeeps are with leaders like Janak Raj and Dharam Pal, who are now in the National Conference party.The office had acquiredone cyclostyling machine which too has been stolen.

Kar, veteran Congress leader in the Valley who had headed the party for about six years since 1991, blames the AICC for not sending enough funds to take care of all the problems. “I have been paying the salaries of eight staff members (an accountant, some clerks and peons) from Khidmat Trust (funded by the Central Congress party to publish `Qaumi Awaz’ newspaper) every month but had no means to pay Rs 30,000 to restore the telephone. The line was disconnected after the last Lok Sabha elections as people misused it a lot,” he says.

But the staff members have different tale to tell. “We get our meagre salaries only when we personally go and beg for it from the Trust manager.

He treats us like filth and we die of humiliation each time we go to him,” says one member. And what are their salaries? The highest, Rs 1,415, is given to Ghulam Mohd Kaul, who performs double duty of an accountant and office secretary. He says that he has given his 25 years tothis party but there is no one to bother how will he feed his wife and six daughters?