Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Dec 12: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah today said that the State lagged behind in development due to over two decades of militancy but assured that he will continue to work for making the State self-reliant.
“Our development remained standstill while other States went much ahead on road to progress during the period of militancy which gripped the State for over 20 years”, Omar said while addressing a public gathering at Lalpora in the frontier district of Kupwara today.
He said that gun has inflicted heavy human and economic loss to the State. He said that his Government worked sincerely to make good the losses and the damage caused by gun and put the economy back on rails.
“We worked for restoration of peace and tranquillity, made sincere efforts to safeguard human rights, reform the security and law and order machinery, to create employment opportunities, upgrade roads and launch new power projects during the last about five years which have started showing encouraging results on the ground,” Omar said.
He said that his party fought the elections in 2008 to address the development issues and day-to-day problems of the people and made it clear that the contesting of elections will not amount to the resolution of all political issues confronting State.
Omar said besides devoting full attention on the comprehensive development of the State in all the regions and sub-regions equitably, his Government worked sincerely for creating an atmosphere where under political issues could be addressed politically through the process of dialogue.
The Chief Minister while referring to financial health of the State, said that Government spends around Rs 1350 crore annually on salaries of the Government employees while total income of the State is only Rs 6500 crore. “We bear losses of Rs 2000 crore on electric supply and pay Rs 2000 crore as pension to the pensioners”, he said.
Omar said that his Government has launched a gigantic power generation programme in the State to achieve financial self-reliance and provide 24×7 power supply to the people of the State. “The total energy generation since the independence to the year 2008 was 750 MWs. My Government during the last about five years has given effect to the power projects of the capacity of about 1800 MWs while the edifice has already been laid for generating 9000 MWs of electricity in the State during the next seven to eight years which will revolutionize the State’s financial resources”, he disclosed.
Chief Minister said that development of backward and remote areas is priority of his Government. “Various schemes to improve and upgrade road communication, water supply, electric supply, health and education sectors was our focus during past 5 years”, he said.
Omar said the pro-active public representatives always ensure that the benefits of schemes launched in the State reach to the people timely. “However, some (PDP legislators) indulge in politicking and forget their role to mitigate public difficulties”, he added.
Chief Minister said that the ‘Pen and Inkpot Party’ (PDP) is indulging in propaganda against the Government and criticises it on power generation. “They better reply as to how many projects they started in the State during their tenure in the Government?” he asked.
Omar announced special sub-divisions of Roads and Buildings Department, Public Health Engineering Department and Irrigation and Flood Control Departments for Lolab area. He said all the other demands of the area would be given due consideration by the Government.
The public meeting was also addressed by Legislator and Provincial President National Conference Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani, Parliament Member, Sharief-ud-Din Shariq and former Legislator Qaiser Jamsheed Lone.
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