Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 10: Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today said that Government is delinking certain services from the KAS and appointing professionals in these departments to run them professionally.
Chief Minister in an informal interaction with the journalists here this afternoon said that some departments need professionals to run them professionally. He said that soon after his take over as Chief Minister he got Muneerul Islam as Director Information which is a specialist posting for which he is specialized. He said that Information Department needs professionals so that it is run professionally.
Mufti said that there are large numbers of Journalism professionals in the State and the need is to utilize their services for running the Information Department professionally.
Chief Minister said that there are other departments like Tourism, Protocol, Agriculture and Horticulture where instead of KAS officers specialized people in the subject are required to run these departments professionally. He said that these departments will be also delinked from KAS as their feeding cadre.
KAS is currently feeding cadre for 15 State Government Departments and Government is keen to run certain departments professionally by utilizing the services of professionals in the field and delink it from KAS.
Chief Minister said that Bollywood is keen to return to Kashmir for film shooting. He said that he met various Bollywood actors, producers and directors during his visit to Mumbai and they showed their willingness to return to natural sets in Kashmir. “Those people are ready to come to Kashmir unlike in the past when they showed no interest”, he said.
Mufti said that Salman Khan’s sentence has been suspended and he is coming for shoot again and Kareena Kapoor is also coming for her shoot. He said that others will also come.
Chief Minister said that people outside the State are ready to invest in Tourism sector which is the need of the hour. “In the past they were not interested and now they are showing interest to develop infrastructure here”, he said. He said that Kashmir lacks tourism infrastructure and there is need to develop it.
Mufti said that roads which suffered major damages during the last year’s floods will be soon repaired. He said that work on these roads is on and gradually all of them will be restored.
Chief Minister said that there is need for rebuilding other infrastructure that was damaged in the floods. He said Government will take long term measures for flood control in Kashmir.
Sayeed also revealed his lighter side as he spoke about movie theatres, Press Club and his “cells”.
Known to be a ‘serious politician’, Sayeed was at his wittiest in public life and had the scribes in splits while he answered ‘serious questions’.
In response to a question, the Chief Minister said “my cells are agile and working.
“These cells prove faulty,” he said when asked if he would constitute a special cell for getting suggestions on how to improve functioning of his Government.
Sayeed, a veteran politician whose political career spans nearly six decades, is known to keep in touch with grass root level workers to get the feel of people’s pulse on various issues.
A video journalist told the Chief Minister that they were not allowed to enter certain places with their cameras. Sayeed quipped: “Have you forgotten Ahmad Shah Masood? He was asked to give interview and then the camera took off and bumped him off.”
On the serious note, Sayeed said he has given instructions to his security to behave well with everyone, including journalists, who try to meet him.
When asked about the possibility of reopening of movie theatres in Kashmir, he asked the editor “this will be another (controversial news). Move to the next question”.
Cinema theatres were closed in Kashmir in 1989 following eruption of militancy and the militants have in the past scuttled any efforts to reopen these entertainment avenues.
In response to a question about the performance of his Government, Sayeed said “What do you expect in just two months? One month went into North Pole-South Pole (referring to controversies over including the release followed by re-arrest of Masrat Alam).”
Sayeed, soon after entering into alliance with BJP, had termed the coalition as meeting of the two poles. The Chief Minister made a promise to the Srinagar-based journalists too.
“I am ready to have a Press Club in Srinagar. I do not know if you are ready for that,” he said.
Sayeed had promised to establish a Press Club here in his first term but the proposal was opposed by few scribes.
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