News Brief
Omar Abdullah Critiques Dual Power System In Jammu And Kashmir, Calls for Unified Command
J&K CM Omar Abdullah
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday (2 January) voiced concerns about the hybrid governance model in the Union Territory.
“Obviously, dual centres of power are not to anyone's advantage. If dual centres were effective tools of governance, you would see it everywhere,” Abdullah said during a media interaction.
Abdullah clarified that while there have been “differences of opinion on some issues,” there was no significant confrontation with the Raj Bhavan.
“Systems work better when there is a single centre of command. For the UT, the dual centres of command are inbuilt. Such reports [of large-scale differences] are just a figment of imagination,” he added.
The J&K Chief Minister assured that business rules for the government would be framed after proper consultations and sent to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
He encouraged people to seek solutions to their issues through any available avenue, stating, “People should go wherever they can get their issues resolved, be it in the Raj Bhavan or with the local MLA or the officers.”
Addressing National Conference MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi's protest over reservation issues, Abdullah reiterated his party's democratic values.
On the issue of reservation, Abdullah noted that a cabinet sub-committee had been formed to address the matter.
He also urged a focus on protecting local jobs, saying, “What will we do when people from other places come here for jobs?”
Responding to concerns over land acquisition for an NIT campus in Pulwama, Abdullah stressed the need to balance development with the protection of agricultural land.
“We cannot increase our land, development cannot stop. We will try to ensure that development projects are on non-productive lands as much as possible. I met a delegation from Pulwama and I said to them that if you don't want NIT in Pulwama, we will take it to some other location,” he said.
Abdullah dismissed Opposition's allegations of a satellite colony proposal, stating there was no such proposal on the table.
He highlighted plans to build townships to decongest Srinagar, saying, “It is for those people who want to move to the suburbs. There are four to five families living in one house in downtown.”
