Centre bound to restore statehood to J&K: CM Omar Abdullah
Srinagar, Jan 2: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday said that the Centre was bound by the directions of the Supreme Court to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
In his maiden media meet-themed ‘Engaging Perspectives’, after assuming office in October last year, CM Omar minced no words to express dissent on dual power centres in J&K.
He underscored the need to restore statehood to ensure effective governance.
In his over an hour interaction, CM Omar talked about various problems confronting people, including the rising unemployment rate and shared his vision and policies for J&K.
“Centre is bound by directions of the Supreme Court to restore statehood to J&K. Even the PM and Home Minister have been repeatedly saying that statehood will be restored. They have also assured me. I am hopeful that J&K will become State again soon,” he said.
Quoting the Apex Court’s judgement, the CM said it had clearly mentioned that statehood must be restored “as soon as possible.”
“A year has passed since the judgement and I believe it should be enough,” he said.
CM Omar strongly dismissed rumours that the central government was creating hurdles in working of his government.
“Let me make it clear that there is no interference, hurdles, or any pressure on my government,” he said.
Elaborating, the CM said, “I have received assurances from both the PM and Home Minister that they will extend the same support to the National Conference (NC) government as they were providing to the Lieutenant Governor. They (PM and HM) stated that they respect the mandate of the people of J&K for the NC-led government and will provide the required support for its functioning.”
He dismissed reports that there was pressure from anybody including PM, HM, or Raj Bhawan on them to change their ideology.
On a question of why didn’t he knock on the doors of the Supreme Court for the restoration of statehood, CM Omar said, “I first approached the persons who converted J&K into UT. Confrontation should be the last resort in any case.”
He said that the restoration of statehood was a must for the identity and prosperity of J&K.
“Dual power centres are not good for people or the government. J&K needs a single centre of command,” the CM said.
On the reports of a rift between him and Raj Bhawan, he dismissed it as a rumour.
“There might be differences of opinion on some issues, but I want to make it clear that there is no rift or confrontation. Some people want to run the rumour mill and they want to create confusion,” CM Omar said.
He said that in a union territory set-up, there were different sets of business rules and processes had been started to frame these.
“It has been just over two months for my government and we are trying to understand the UT setup. We have started a process to frame business rules and after finalisation, we will send it to the LG,” the CM said.
On a question about fulfilling the promise in NC’s manifesto, he said, “The manifesto is not for months but five years. We have made some important decisions and we are committed to fulfilling all our election promises. But the restoration of statehood is imperative for it.”
CM Omar said that in this dual command set-up, people were free to approach anybody in the government or Raj Bhawan to resolve their issues.
“If restoration of statehood is prolonged, I will take some decision accordingly. But I am optimistic that the statehood will be restored,” he said.
About the protests over the reservations, the CM said that youth must first save their jobs.
“We can later fight for the reserved and open category, but first save jobs from outsiders,” he said.
CM Omar downplayed the protest by NC Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah over the issue of reservation.
“This is a democracy where anybody can speak under NC rule outside my house. You have to understand that this was the first such protest in the last several years. Otherwise, such protests were previously considered illegal,” he said. “I expect that he (Ruhullah) will hold a protest in the Parliament for restoration of statehood. The reservation matter has been referred to the cabinet sub-committee and will be resolved in six months.”
Responding to the opposition to land acquisition for setting up a campus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, the CM said that the matter was under his consideration.
However, he was quick to say that “there is a need to strike a balance between development and protecting productive agricultural land.”
“We have to understand that there is a shortage of land. We have to undertake development and at the same time, we cannot increase land. However, I will ensure that such projects are executed on non-productive lands,” CM Omar said.
He also dismissed reports of the construction of a satellite colony along the Ring Road.
“So far there is no such proposal with the government,” the CM said.
He hit out at those who were making an issue out of the satellite colony.
“The same people who are trying to make an issue of satellite colony went miles to shift power centres outside Srinagar and Jammu. They want to make greater Jammu and Srinagar,” CM Omar said.
He said that Srinagar city was congested and people wanted to move outside the summer capital.
“Even if satellite colonies are constructed, these will be for the people of Srinagar. In Srinagar Downtown, three to four families are living in a single house. They have to be given a chance to settle in a better place,” the CM said.
He said that his government was committed to ensuring the round-the-clock power supply.
“For it, metering is important and the process is going on in full swing,” CM Omar said.
“We are spending Rs 9500 crore a year to buy power from the Centre and there is a loss of 50 percent. We are trying to focus on reducing power distribution losses,” he said.
The CM said that presently 1700-1800 MW of power is supplied daily.
“But due to overloading and maintenance works, there are unscheduled cuts. We are pining hopes on our power projects. If these are completed, we can provide more power to the people in the summer. We have to bring down our AT&C losses,” he said.
CM Omar said that the sooner the power projects in J&K are completed, the sooner more electricity could be provided to the people.
Omar was flanked by Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, cabinet ministers Sakina Itoo, Satish Sharma, Javed Dar, Javed Ahmed Rana.
Advisor to CM Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Secretary Atal Dullo, and senior officers of various departments were also present on the occasion.
