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JAMMU: A young BJP legislator successful J&K Saturday drew uncommon praise from crossed the governmental aisle with her code successful the Assembly, which she confined strictly to budgetary issues successful the different highly polarised House.Devyani Singh Rana, 31, is the girl of erstwhile Nagrota MLA Devender Rana, who died successful 2024 aft winning the assembly election. In Oct 2025, BJP fielded Devyani from Nagrota successful the bypoll, which she won. After her father’s death, Devyani had joined BJP and was appointed vice-president of the J&K BJP Yuva Morcha successful Jan 2025.While governing National Conference legislators focused connected J&K’s peculiar status, BJP utilized the statement to item what it described arsenic developmental gains aft the abrogation of Article 370.Devyani, however, flagged energy shortages, raised concerns implicit the national territory’s increasing clime vulnerabilities, acquisition assemblage and proscription arsenic members listened to her raptly for astir 12 minutes.In her speech, she deprecated Rs 271-cr simplification successful catastrophe management, alleviation and rehabilitation section allocation, saying the crisp chopped comes successful a twelvemonth that saw unprecedented and aggravated rainfall that devastated ample parts of agrarian Jammu.
Referring to tragedies successful her constituency, she cited the decease of three-year-old Mahi successful a landslide and 28-year-old Sheer Khan, who drowned successful a river. “These names correspond the lives mislaid successful the Jammu division,” she said, calling for stronger flood and landslide absorption measures.About flash floods that deed Jammu past year, Rana said, radical mislaid their lives, bridges were damaged, roads became unsafe and houses were destroyed.
“Our children were stranded astatine location and successful colleges. Apple trucks were stuck connected the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway (NH-44), and our traders suffered losses,” she said. She called for much allocation successful catastrophe absorption arsenic Jammu and Kashmir, she said, is “earthquake-prone, landslide-prone and fire-prone.
”Devyani besides flagged under-spending successful the societal sectors. “If astir Ra 193 crore is spent little connected education, past however volition the children of mediocre families beryllium uplifted,” she said.She besides pointed to a simplification of Rs 782.8 crore successful powerfulness superior expenditure, saying it comes astatine a clip erstwhile voltage remains unstable and transformers often fail.While welcoming the inaugural of escaped autobus question for persons with disabilities, the MLA questioned its effectual implementation. “Are these buses adequately equipped with ramps and entree mechanisms? And erstwhile determination person been documented cases of buses failing to halt adjacent for women, what deterrent exists to guarantee compliance?” she asked.As she ended her speech, members from the NC, BJP and PDP thumped their tables and crossed implicit to her spot to congratulate her.Devyani holds a grade successful economics from the University of California. The eldest of 3 siblings — 2 sisters and a member — she is simply a businesswoman who took implicit the absorption of the household concern aft her father’s death. “I consciousness humbled and precise blessed by the effect to my speech. We each enactment for the nationalist good,” Devyani told TOI.She said since the ongoing Assembly league is the fund session, she preferred to absorption connected the fund lone to place occupation areas that could beryllium addressed successful coming years. “I chose to talk successful English due to the fact that the fund crossed each quarters is presented and discussed successful English,” she said.
