Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 25: Governor NN Vohra today hoped that new Government would be installed soon in Jammu and Kashmir leading to end of Governor’s rule, which was imposed on the State on January 8 after former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah refused to continue as caretaker Chief Minister,
“I am hopeful that present spell of governance under my charge will soon come to an end and elected representatives of the people will form the Government taking responsibility of running the affairs of the State,” Mr Vohra said in his message on the eve of Republic Day.
“The recent Assembly elections to the State Assembly didn’t yield clear cut verdict. While talks between leading political parties were on, the caretaker Chief Minister (Omar Abdullah) decided to step down. This unforeseen development led to imposition of Governor’s rule,” he noted.
He said after successful conduct of Assembly elections in the State, which were visibly free and fair “I believe that the people’s mandate shall very soon lead to installation of next Government in the State”.
Asserting that huge voter turnout in the Assembly elections has once again confirmed people’s deep rooted trust in the democratic process, the Governor observed that despite suffering and varied threats, the people voted heavily in the elections.
Mr Vohra voiced serious concern over repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan and continued attempts of infiltration by the militants along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC).
In Jammu region, he recalled, there were two terrorist attacks on the IB last year. The repeated instances of unprovoked heavy firing from across the border caused loss of innocent lives and damages to the property of people living in the villages along the border, he said.
Pointing out that maintenance of peace and public order are imperative for securing sustained growth and development, Mr Vohra saluted State and Central Armed Police Force and the Army for their uncompromising commitment and devotion to duty and paid homage to all brave officers and men, who sacrificed their lives to safeguard the national security.
He emphasised the crucial importance of all the Government functionaries putting in their best efforts to bring about visible changes in their style of functioning and stressed that adherence to a work culture which is embedded in efficiency, transparency, responsiveness and accountability must pervade the entire administrative apparatus.
He observed that serious gaps in the governance apparatus, particularly those which were related to functioning of the public delivery systems, must be remedied without any loss of time whatsoever.
“To achieve the purpose, stern measures were required to be taken to eradicate all dishonest elements from the public services and ensure that key positions are assigned only to functionaries with proven integrity and competence,” the Governor said.
Saying that the menace of corruption and unaccountability, which has permeated all levels of functioning, shall need to be fought and eradicated with unflinching determination, Mr Vohra said that urgent steps shall also need to be taken for restoring the integrity of all public institutions, particularly those which are the watch-dogs of governance.
In this context, he emphasised that the Right to Information Act must be implemented even more vigorously to enable the empowerment of the people at large and, among the various statutory bodies, the State Accountability Commission and the State Vigilance Commission must be particularly enabled to function without any hindrance.
Referring to the floods of an unprecedented scale which caused large scale of loss of life and damage to private property and public infrastructure in the State in September last year, the Governor said that as per Governmental assessments about 15 lakh families were adversely affected by the floods, which caused enormous damage to roads and bridges, and water, power and health systems.
In Kashmir Valley, about one and a half lakh marooned persons were rescued while in the Jammu region thousands had to be evacuated to safer places.
The Governor said that the rescue operations launched by the administration were very strongly supported by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army. He added that the Air Force evacuated over 15,000 flood affected persons and carried out hundreds of sorties for air dropping packets of water, food, medical and other essential supplies.
He observed with satisfaction that in the rescue operations invaluable help was provided by the local youth, representatives of the civil society organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations from within the State and elsewhere in the country. He thanked all of them, particularly the local youth who played a truly commendable role and took untold risks in providing valuable assistance to the flood victims.
The Governor observed that on the very day the floods engulfed the whole of Srinagar city the Prime Minister had visited Jammu and Srinagar and announced a Special Plan Assistance of Rs. 1,000 crore for the reconstruction of public infrastructure.
He added that after the floods had receded, the State Government had assessed the total loss on all fronts and forwarded a comprehensive report to the Government of India, which is being pursued for a very early decision. He said that meanwhile, close attention is being paid to ensure that the corpus of Rs. 1,191 crore, available under the State Disaster Response Fund, is fully utilised and the relief distribution work is completed very early.
The Governor observed, “because of the consistently negative trans-border factors and recurring challenges to the maintenance of peace and normalcy, Jammu and Kashmir has continued to face varied hurdles in maintaining the required pace for securing its growth and developmental goals”.
Follow our WhatsApp channel