Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 28: Speaker of Legislative Assembly, Mohd Akbar Lone, today directed the Minister for Health, Sham Lal Sharma, to implement the decisions taken by then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, regarding the opening of the health centers in the erstwhile Doda district.
The directions from the chair came after the former Ministers and MLAs from Inderwal and Doda, G M Saroori and Abdul Majid Wani rued that despite lapse of several years, the decisions taken in the District Development Board-cum-Cabinet meeting chaired by then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nab Azad, regarding the opening of 10 sub-centres and one Primary Health Centre in each constituency of erstwhile Doda district have not been implemented so far.
Then Chief Minister and presently Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad, took this decision keeping in view the difficulties being faced by the people of erstwhile Doda district in getting the health care facilities, they said, adding despite repeated assurances on the floor of the House regarding implementation of decisions, nothing has been done so far to open sub-centres and PHCs.
“For opening of health centers in other areas, there is no financial implication but as far as implementing the decisions of Ghulam Nabi Azad is concerned the Government is dragging its feet”, Saroori said, adding “when I raised this issue in the previous sessions and submitted the copy of the minutes of the DDB-cum-Cabinet meeting in which the decisions were taken, the chair had directed the Health Minister for necessary action but it is unfortunate that no step has so far been initiated to open PHCs and sub-centres in each constituency of erstwhile Doda district”.
The former Minister further said, “it doesn’t look nice that despite being in the Government and having Health Minister from Congress, we have to wait for years together to get our genuine concerns addressed”. He sought to know when the decisions taken in DDB-cum-Cabinet meeting of 2008-09 would be implemented.
Taking note of the concerns of Congress MLAs, Speaker directed the Health Minister, Sham Lal Sharma, to give specific reply to the explicit question of the Congress MLAs.
“I am committed to consolidation as well as expansion and Directorate of Remote Sensing has undertaken a mapping survey of erstwhile Doda district to identify the places where there is a need to set up health institutions keeping in view the norms for setting up of such institutions”, the Minister said, adding “as far as the opening of 10 sub-centres in each constituency of erstwhile Doda district, a proposal has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for approval”.
As the Congress MLAs again stood up to get specific reply, Speaker intervened and directed the Health Minister to implement the decisions taken by then Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Later in the evening, Mr Saroori told EXCELSIOR that all the MLAs from erstwhile Doda district have submitted a memorandum to Speaker as well as Health Minister with the request to translate the decisions taken by Ghulam Nabi Azad into reality.

By Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 28: The Peoples Democratic Party today lambasted the coalition government and termed the figures given in budget as well as allocations made in it nothing except a figment of imagination.
Participating in the two day long discussions on Chief Minister’s grants during the second sitting of the State Assembly this afternoon, PDP MLA and former Deputy Chief Minister, Muzzafar Hussain Baig said that this budget and allocations are based on figment of imagination.
Substantiating his point with some facts, Mr Baig said that the government has not revealed that what is the plan for current year as it has not been got approved from the Centre as yet. Contrary to this during PDP led government in 2002 to 2008 the plan was got approved from Centre prior to presentation of budget in the Assembly. He wanted to know how can the government earmark funds and release money in April when they have not got their plan approved from Planning Commission of India (PCI).
Maintaining that Planning is an important Department, he said it shows which direction the state will move and also presents a map of how the Centre funds are to be spent in a planned way. He while revealing figures and comparing them with the PDP-Congress coalition from 2002 to 2008, said that according to economic survey of 2008-09 states own resources were minus 1976.14 crore which when compared to 2011-12 economic survey is minus 6371.96 crore. This means a shortfall in resources of hundreds of crores.
Mr Baig said the borrowings during that regime was 272.87 crore, which has touched last year to 3979 crore. This way the state resources decreased, he added.
The PDP leader said during PDP regime the Central assistance was 4403.27 crore which increased to 9892.46 crore now.
Maintaining that there was a 24 time short fall in state resources he said, it showed defective planning process in the state. Quoting figures Baig said last year for the Central sponsored schemes Rs 10,000 crore were to be spent but the government has not revealed that how much amount from this was spent.
He said it shows that either the government is not realistic or efficient to achieve the target. The agriculture, horticulture is a priority sector and last year target in this sector was 3621.08 crore but up to September 2011 only 50 percent was achieved.
He said though Bank is also a priority sector and people need its services. For average one bank branch there should be population of 12,000. But in Kishtwar there is a bank for the population of 26000 and in Bandipora and Poonch it is for the population of 23,000, he added.
Baig wanted to know how many bank branches were opened in these backward areas.
He said as per socio economic survey the state is also lagging behind 18 states of country. Stressing on keeping additionalities at the disposal of Chief Minister so that whenever he tours any constituency he can announce funds on demand.
But there should be no discrimination in distribution of the same, he said adding while distributing additonalities during PDP rule no discrimination was made on party politics basis. “We released them in favour of MLAs but now they are being given to defeated candidates of NC and no criteria is followed’’.
The PDP leader was also critical of the government and accused it of not following the District Development Board decisions. He said among 100 projects to be monitored by CM only seven projects were given to constituencies represented by PDP. Moreover out of Rs 4268 crore sanctioned by NABARD only 204 crore were spent, he added.
He accused the government of fixing the target but not making the achievements.
Mr Baig said the government has claimed to generate 4000 mw of power by 2020 and eight projects were given to NHPC in 2000 by it. Out of them in 12 years project report has been prepared for Barsar Power Project which can generate 1020 mws of power. If this was the pace then the project will not be completed even in 50 years, he added.
Earlier PDP staged walkout when Speaker, Mohammed Akbar Lone did not agree to grant 30 minutes time to Mr Baig.
The PDP chief whip Gaffar Sofi who protested in the House for not granting 30 minutes to party MLA to speak on grants aid that other MLAs who are single party have been given more time and the main opposition is being discriminated. However, the Speaker said that he can’t allow more than 10 minutes to Mr Baig to speak which led to walkout by the party. Later Mr Baig addressed criticised a press conference and criticised the Government for violating Parliamentary procedure.
However the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah intervened and asked Speaker that the Opposition party MLA be allowed to speak for 30 minutes.
Later, the Speaker sent a communique to leader of opposition and the Party MLAs joined the discussion in second session.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 28: Two militants including a dreaded divisional commander of Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HuJI) today escaped from police custody at Patnitop-Batote road on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway when they were being taken back to District Jail in Udhampur after their court attendance in Kishtwar.
Sher Khan, a divisional commander of HuJI, who was involved in a number of murder cases and other militant activities and Jameel Abbas alias Abdullah escaped police custody after they took the excuse of attending to the nature’s call at an isolated slope between Patnitop and Batote this evening.
Police have arrested four police personnel, who were incharge security of the two militants, have been arrested and a case registered against them for de-reliction of duty. They have been suspended.
Police said Kishtwar police had brought seven detenues including Sher Khan and Abdullah from Udhampur and other jails, where they had been lodged, to Kishtwar this morning for their appearance in the courts. After court attendance, the detenues were being brought back from Kishtwar to Udhampur when Sher Khan and Abdullah pleaded for attending to the nature’s call.
The cops stopped the police vehicle and allowed the militants to move towards a slope between Patnitop and Batote road. The cops watched for few minutes but the terrorists didn’t return. They moved towards the slope only to find the militants absconding. They sounded an alarm and informed Batote police.
Police parties led by SP Ramban Anil Magotra fanned out in different directions but the militants remained untraced till late tonight.
Mr Magotra said police parties along with para-military personnel have cordoned off all possible routes and were conducting searches in the forest areas leading to Doda to track down the militants. However, they remained untraced.
The SP Ramban said four police personnel of Kishtwar district, who had been assigned the security of Sher Khan and Abdullah, have been arrested and lodged at Batote police station. A case has been registered against them.
Police have ordered an inquiry into escape of the militants.
Police said two cops were escorting two militants with weapons and two with handcuffs. There was one Incharge of all police personnel engaged with the detenues. He was also being quizzed though he has not been arrested.
Sher Khan, a divisional commander of HuJI had surrendered in November 2007 in Kishtwar. He was a resident of village Chatru and was involved in a series of cases of killings and other militant activities.
Abdullah, a resident of Reasi, was also involved in various militant activities.

By Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Mar 28: Main Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today grilled the Government over its failure to spend the money meant for the world famous Dal lake and staged walk-out after the Speaker, Mohd Akbar Lone, rejected their demand for constituting a House Committee to look into the issue of diversion of funds from Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to other heads. On the other hand, National Panthers Party (NPP) MLAs protested against the neglect of the Jammu lakes by the Government and walked-out of the House after the Minister failed to reply their queries.
The grilling of Government started when the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Nasir Aslam Wani, in reply to the question of PDP MLA, Peerzada Mansoor Hussain, regarding diversions made from LAWDA allocations, admitted that funds were diverted to other heads as the LAWDA could not spend the money due to the adverse law and order situation for more than four months from June onwards in 2010.
The Minister even admitted that no expenditure has yet been incurred on solid waste management projects under UIDSSMT scheme in Anantnag, Sopore, Baramulla, Kupwara and Ganderbal towns despite release of an amount of Rs 6.75 crore against the sanctioned cost of Rs 15 crore. He, however, attributed this to lack of response despite putting the works to tender.
“This is no justification behind diversion of funds meant for Dal lake”, PDP MLA, Peerzada Mansoor Hussain, remarked and asked what the Department was doing in rest of the eight months when there was no disturbance in the Valley. “The diversion of funds is a question mark on the performance of the Department and its capacity to spend the money meant for the conservation of Dal lake”, he further said.
Why the Government could not fix the responsibility on the officers, who failed to spend even single penny for the solid waste management projects? he asked. “I salute the officers of the Department, who spent the money in six towns of Jammu”, he said and demanded that a House Committee should be constituted to look into diversion of funds meant for the Dal lake.
As the PDP MLAs were accusing the Government of diverting the funds meant for Dal lake to Jammu, the Minister said, “the funds re-appropriated to other heads were spent in Jammu as well as Srinagar under different schemes”. He even gave break-up of the same to prove the assertions of the PDP MLAs wrong.
Joining the issue, CPM MLA, Mohd Yousaf Tarigami, asked why the Department failed to utilize the money in remaining eight months. The Legislature Party leader of National Panthers Party, Harshdev Singh, said that Government should have kept the money keeping in view the capacity of the Department to expend the same.
“When you cannot spend the money then what is the fun of keeping provisions for the same”, he asked and said that such money could have been spent for other lakes like Surinsar, Mansar and Dalsar in Jammu region. He also sought to know as to why the Government has kept funds for the Dal lake under four heads when the Housing and Urban Development Department has no capacity to spend the same fully even from one head.
Echoing similar views, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Nagrota, Jugal Kishore said that unspent money should have been utilized for the Surinsar and Mansar lakes in Jammu instead of diverting the same for other works. He alleged that Government was neglecting the water bodies of Jammu.
Alleging neglect of Jammu lakes, Jammu State Morcha (JSM) MLA from Bishnah, Ashwani Sharma, said that Government should have brought Mansar and Surinsar lakes under the purview of LAWDA, adding “there is no justification behind keeping Dal lake under LAWDA and other lakes under the Environment and Ecology Ministry”.
PDP MLA, Rafi Ahmad Mir, whose question regarding works under Municipal Committee Aishmuqam had also been listed in the business, said, “the Government should have diverted the money to six proposed works in Aishmuqam area, which according to the Government itself could not be taken up due to non-availability of funds”.
After being cornered by the Opposition, the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Nasir Aslam Wani said, “all this happened in 2010 only. Now the utilization of funds for Dal lake has been streamlined”.
However, he was repeatedly interrupted by the agitating PDP MLAs, who started demanding a House Committee to look into the issue of diversion of funds meant for Dal lake. Amidst ruckus, the Speaker, Mohd Akbar Lone, took up the next question on the ground that Opposition was not ready to listen the Minister’s reply.
“You are not interested to listen the Minister that is why I have decided to take up next question”, he said when all the PDP MLAs moved towards the front row in protest. “You have to maintain the decorum of the House. I will not allow you to start shouting every time”, Speaker said.
As the PDP MLAs started raising slogans in support of their demand for setting up of House Committee, the Speaker remarked, “am I dictated by you….you have to make a submission. I reject your request for appointing the House Committee”.
Following this, all the PDP MLAs staged walk-out.
In the meantime, NPP MLA, Harshdev Singh, stood up and sought to know as to why the Government has kept funds under four heads for Dal lake despite the fact that it has no capacity to expend the same even under one head.
As the Speaker didn’t allow the Minister to give reply and instead asked him to furnish information to the MLA in writing, all the NPP MLAs, BJP’s Jugal Kishore and JSM’s Ashwani Sharma staged walk-out alleging neglect of Jammu lakes.

By Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Mar 28: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today silenced his critics in the opposition by declaring that third and major part of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) pertaining to operational control over the State wouldn’t be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir and charged the opposition, the PDP, with trying to create a hype on the issue. He said Pakistan wouldn’t allow implementation of Rehabilitation Policy for Jammu and Kashmir youth and added that the State Government was in touch with the Union Government for making some changes in the policy. He announced amnesty for 2704 Kashmiri youths, mostly stone pelters, saying FIRs against them would be withdrawn in next 15 to 20 days.
In his 130 minutes reply to nine hours marathon debate on the grants of his Departments in the Legislative Assembly, Omar admitted illegal appointments and illegal regularization of employees in Housing and Urban Development Department, which, he said, were going on for past 12 years. He said Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who holds the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development Department, has submitted him a detailed report on illegal appointments and regularizations, which was being given to Vigilance Cell of General Administration Department (GAD) for recommendations after which legal action would be taken on them.
The Chief Minister announced setting up of Planning Commission of J&K on the lines of Planning Commission of India for streamlining the process of Planning in the State, setting up of Transmission Corporation in Power Development Department to reduce Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses, construction of two Fly Overs in Jammu and Srinagar and installation of traffic lights in the capital cities this year.
Referring to charges leveled by PDP Legislature Party leader, Mehbooba Mufti that the National Conference was among the supporters of NCTC like POTO and AFSPA, Omar asked the leader of the PDP whether she was sitting in the meeting where the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) were making deliberations on the issue.
Noting that NCTC comprised of three parts—Intelligence gathering, Intelligence analysis and operational control, Omar said the State Government has no objections to first two parts as Intelligence gathering was already being done by the Central agencies through Multi Agency Centre (MAC).
“However, as far as rights for suo moto operations in the State by the NCTC were concerned, we would never agree to this part. This part will never be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. We have experience that wherever the Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) was not followed, the chances of human rights violations increased. Unless Jammu and Kashmir Police or police component was involved in the operations, there remained the fear of rights violations. The NCTC wouldn’t be allowed any unilateral action in the State’’, the Chief Minister said taking exception to hype created on the issue by the PDP.
He added that the issues of national security should be kept above politics.
“As far as you (Centre) want to empower youself with rights that you (NCTC) would come to the State and undertake suo moto operation without asking us —informing us—this thing we are never ready to accept”, Omar said.
He added: “this part (conducting operation unilaterally) of NCTC will not be applied to the State”.
“We have brought on the record (of Central Government) our objections to the operations (by NCTC). If you (Centre) want to create any such force that you want to use for anti-militancy, you cannot use that force in J & K till that time you do not ask or inform or you cannot involve J&K Police component”, Omar said.
“I want to take this opportunity to clarify it—NCTC has three parts— one intelligence gathering, another intelligence analysis and third operations”, Omar said adding “we have clearly told the Centre that as far as intelligence-gathering is concerned, we have no problem”.
On Rehabilitation Policy, Omar Abdullah asserted that it needed changes as the neighbouring country wanted to fail it since it didn’t suit the neighbour. Without naming Pakistan, he said the neighbouring country has been thriving on Kashmir for past 25 years and “if the Kashmiri youth now started returning from that part of the country without guns, they would face embarrassing situation’’.
He said the Government was in touch with the Union Government for effecting changes in Rehabilitation Policy. “As the youth from across the border can’t come in open, we are examining the prospectus how they could be brought secretly. The neighbour would create obstacles and but would continue our efforts’’, he said, adding the State Government had received 1030 applications under the Rehabilitation Policy, of which, 67 have been approved.
Omar sounded confident on withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from at least five districts of the State this year.
“Time has come for withdrawal of AFSPA from at least Srinagar, Budgam, Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, which were free of militancy and where Army has not operated for years together as there was no presence of militants. We are not asking for AFSPA withdrawal from Sopore, Tral, Doda or Kupwara but from the peaceful areas and we hope a beginning on this front would be made in the current year’’, he said.
Referring to the criticism from some quarters that the State Government had not written a formal letter to the Union Government for withdrawal of the AFSPA, he asserted that such a letter was not required as powers for withdrawal were with the State Government. AFSPA had been extended to entire State by a Cabinet order followed by the Governor nod, he pointed out and recalled that even the Cabinet Committee on Security has in 2010 told the State Government to take the decision (on withdrawal of AFSPA) in the meeting of Unified Command. However, he said, a decision couldn’t be reached in the meeting due to opposition of AFSPA withdrawal by the Army though all other agencies had supported the move for its partial revocation. He said he met all CCS members and talks were still on.
Asserting that AFSPA had not been enforced for law and order problem but for dealing with militancy, Omar said the militancy was just 5 per cent in 2011 than what it was in 2002. “We can’t say that we are asking for AFSPA withdrawal for just one good summer of 2011 but there has been significant improvement in the situation over past one decade’’.
Asserting that the government is yet to arrive on a unanimous decision on partial withdrawal of AFSPA, Omar today said all agencies, except the Army, were in favour of revocation of this Act.
“The reality is that we could not reach an unanimous decision on it (revocation of AFSPA). The reality is that it was deliberated upon in Unified Command meeting. All agencies, except the Army, were in favour of revocation of AFSPA”, he said.
The Army did not favour it on the ground that the situation was not conducive for it, he said adding “I decided not to wait for long and I went to the Centre and held talks with all the stakeholders of Cabinet Committee on Security. Talks are on with them”.
The Chief Minister said “we are trying that this Act should be lifted not by the end of our turn of governance. I hope this year only we will take a step in this direction”.
Referring to a point raised by a member that the state government should write a letter of recommendation for repealing of AFSPA, Omar said “we do not need to send a letter to Government of India. If this power could have been in their hands only, then we would have been under compulsion to write that letter”.
“Under AFSPA, the power lies either with the Centre or with the State. We too have powers to recommend lifting of AFSPA”, he said adding “when AFSPA was imposed in Jammu region, then the State did not need the Centre’s approval. It was a decision taken by the State Cabinet and recommended to the Governor who approved it”.
After the Prime Minister’s Round Table Conference (RTC) and subsequent recommendations by a Working Group that the laws enacted in J&K should be rolled back, Omar said, “I also agree that time has reached when they should be withdrawn slowly.”
“We are told that one year of peace is not sufficient for rolling back of AFSPA. We should not consider linking AFSPA with law and order as AFSPA was never imposed in Jammu and Kashmir for law and order problem but for fighting militancy,” he said.
“Situation in Jammu and Kashmir is better than last year. It has become conducive for traders, businesses and tourists,” Omar said.
We tried to give benefit to the people of the state. For past several years consecutively, the situation has become better, but this is true that summer in the past few years were bad particularly in 2008, 2009, 2010,” Omar said.
“The point of the fact is that situation is getting better and conducive. We have repeatedly said in the House that foot prints of security forces should be decreased and people should feel the impact of the decrease in the security force, which they see everywhere,” Omar added.
He quoted figures to point out sharp decline in militancy related incidents across the State including civilian deaths, killing of police and security force personnel etc. He said three CRPF battalions were de-inducted and 39 bunkers were removed last year while 15 more CRPF bunkers are being removed from Srinagar City this summer. He added that 52 buildings have been vacated from the occupation of security forces and restored to private owners or the Government.
Referring to report of Interlocutors submitted by them to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in October last year, Mr Abdullah said he would like to make an appeal to the Government of India on behalf of the House not to treat the report like previous report. He added that the report should be shared with public so that the people know its recommendations, which are considered and implemented by the Centre.
Maintaining that the State Government was committed to zero tolerance policy announced by the Prime Minister towards human rights violations, he said only five serious reports were reported in 2011 including three custodial death and one case each of molestation and rape. However, he said, even a single incident was more for the Government and “we would like that not even lone incident of rights violation was reported’’.
Announcing amnesty for 2704 Kashmiri youths, mostly stone pelters, booked since 2010, the Chief Minister said 402 cases have been short listed for amnesty and the Government was ready for withdrawal of cases against them in the next 15 to 20 days. A total of 2704 youths will get amnesty with the withdrawal of these cases, he said, adding some more cases were under process.
PDP Legislature Party leader Mehbooba Mufti had yesterday threatened that the PDP would hit the roads if FIRs against 5000 Kashmiri youths were not withdrawn.
Taking exception to Mehbooba’s yesterday’s speech in which she had charged that it was police, which was doing everything for the Government, Omar countered her saying it was good that police has maintained a good liaison with the people. There is nothing wrong in community policing and the cops inter-acting with the people, he said.
Referring to the charges of large scale backdoor appointment made in Housing and Urban Development Department made by Mehbooba Mufti yesterday, the Chief Minister admitted 407 illegal appointments in the Department for the past 11 years and 225 illegal regularizations in the same period.
“I’m not going away from the allegations. I’m admitting it on floor of the House that illegal appointments have been made in the Housing and Urban Development Department’’, he said.
Giving figures, Omar said 157 illegal appointments have been made in H&UD Department from 2000 to 2006 and 250 during 2008-11 while 75 illegal regularizations were done in the Department from 2000 to 2006 and 150 from 2008-11.
It may be mentioned here that from 2000 to 2002, there was Farooq Abdullah led Government in the State while from 2002 to 2006, it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad led regime ruling J&K. From 2009-2011, the present Government was ruling the State.
“We can’t say that all illegal appointments have been made by Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, who holds the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development Department. This has been going on in the Department for last 11 years. The Deputy CM has given me the report on appointments. The report has been submitted to Vigilance Cell of GAD for recommendations. Whatever legal action was proposed by the GAD would be taken’’, Omar said.
Before start of the Chief Minister’s reply, Mehbooba Mufti had submitted documents to Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone pertaining to backdoor appointments in Housing and Urban Development Department, purchasing of unauthorized structure by Jammu and Kashmir Bank involving Bank Director Nihal Garware and extension given to some blue eyed officers by the Government.
Mehbooba said she wanted to submit documents to the Government to authenticate her charges leveled yesterday while participating in debate on the Chief Minister’s grants.
Omar announced that Jammu and Srinagar cities would have traffic light system this year. He said contracts have been given for installation of traffic lights in the two capital cities at an approximated cost of Rs 4 crore. Under the contract, the lights would be installed within 90 days, he said, adding the Traffic Department would man the lights.
Asserting that the people would have to adjust to the lights, he recalled that during previous years of light system, a tonga wallah had jumped the red light in Srinagar. On being signaled to stop, he had told Traffic cops that his horse was not immune to the lights.
He said work on Jehangir Chowk-Rambagh Fly Over in Srinagar for Rs 256 crore and Vikram Chowk-Women College Fly Over in Jammu for Rs 93 crore would start soon. He said Fly Over proposal on BC road has been shelved due to many dislocations and road widening would be taken up there. He added that Vikram Chowk Fly Over project’s final summary appraisal report has been sent to Asian Development Bank and work would start after the approval.
Admitting that there were no two opinions that dependence of Jammu and Kashmir was increasing on the Centre, the Chief Minister attributed it to the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission. He said Rs 4528 crore salary bill and Rs 1269 crore pension bill during PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig’s tenure as the Finance Minister has today jumped to Rs 11010 crore and was increasing.
Announcing that the Government would set up the State Planning Commission on the lines of Planning Commission of India, Omar said the Commission would have a professional Vice Chairpersons and members. It would get shape in next few months.
On Muzaffar Baig’s query on State Finance Commission recommendations, he said the Chief Secretary and Administrative Secretaries were working on them. Two experts—S Mahajan and GA Qureshi have also been provided to the Committee to work on recommendations of the SFC and implement them, he added.
Refuting charges by some of the MLAs that recommendations of the District Development Boards (DDBs) were not being implemented, Omar said that on an average 67 per cent decisions of the DDBs have been implemented. He gave year wise percentage of implementation of works. He said a high level committee headed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal and two Administrative Secretaries has been set up to review all decisions of the DDB for last three years and ensure implementation of the decisions, which was possible in a time frame manner.
Disclosing that Special Centre Assistant has gone up, the Chief Minister said the State would have Rs 8500 crore for capital expenditure in 2012-13 including Rs 5500 crore under State plan, Rs 2300 crore under Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Rs 700 crore under PMRP.
He said assistance under PMRP has come down from Rs 1200 crore to Rs 700 crore for next financial year as barring four all projects under the Plan have been completed.
Saying that it would be wrong to allege that additionalities were distributed only in the segments of ruling party MLAs, the Chief Minister said Anantnag and Pulwama, the two districts in Kashmir dominated by the opposition, were given maximum additionalities.
On criticism of transfer policy, he said it was being implemented in most of the departments. He told the House that only 31 premature transfers were ordered in PWD and 13 in PDD, the two Departments, which were under his control as they were emergency in nature.
Dispelling impressing that the Government had challenged decisions of the State Accountability Commission (SAC) in the court, the Chief Minister said he didn’t allow even his two Advisors to challenge the decision. “As they (the Advisors) had the Constitutional right to challenge the decision, they did it in their individual capacity’’, he said, adding the SAC was on the job. He added that candidates for the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) have also been short-listed and the Commission would be in place soon. He also defended Right to Information Act (RTI) saying he became more accountable due to the Act. He said just because the fact that some persons were misusing it, the Act can’t be described as wrong. He said more services were being brought under the purview of Public Services Guarantee Act.
Omar said the GAD was giving prosecution sanction as sought by the Vigilance Organisation in majority of cases though it has been declined in some cases.
He said after switching over to e-governance in R&B for contracts above Rs 5 lakh, the Government in 2012-13 would introduce e-payments to contractors and suppliers. He disputed the allegations of discrimination in construction of roads in Jammu and Kashmir saying thickness norms and guidelines varied in snow bound and plain areas.
He added that Rs 865 crore have been kept for PWD and R&B along which would boost road connectivity. He said the State Government has urged the Centre to declare three major roads including Kargil-Zanskar and Donera-Basohli-Bani-Bhaderwah as National Highways.
On charges of PDP MLA and former Minister of State for Power, Javed Mustafa Mir that the Government had purchased 16 lakh electronic meters, Omar said his reports were that only seven lakh meters have been purchased and, of them, 1.5 lakh were in stock.
The Chief Minister asked Mr Mir to disclose the name of the officer instead of indulging in AK Antony and Gen VK Singh like talks.
He said 28 power transformers in Anantnag and 14 in Kulgam have been stolen in which a Crime Branch inquiry has been ordered.
Asserting that NHPC wouldn’t hand over power projects to the State easily as they had been earning 50 per cent of their profits from Jammu and Kashmir, Omar said the State was projecting its case before the Central Government based on logic, law and history. He said the State has properly analysed its power potential as earlier even projects across the LoC had been taken into account or some had been counted twice. “We have worked out our capacity as 16,000 mw’’, he added.
Mr Abdullah, who holds Power Departments, said under new scheme and structural changes, capacity of various projects has increased. Earlier, Karthai-II was projected to give 360 mw but it has now been revised to 990 mw. Similarly, Baglihar was giving 450 mw while its phase-II was projected to give 900 mw and Ratle, which had earlier been accounted for 690 mw, was now projected to give 850 mw.
He said the Government would have to take hard decisions as there was vast difference between agreement load and load faced by the transformers, a result of which many transformers were burning or facing damages.
Noting that Transmission and Distribution losses have gone up to 73.5 per cent as compared to just 16 per cent in Himachal Pradesh, Omar said the State was facing Rs 2000 crore worth losses in Rs 6600 crore plan of the State. He noted that even officials of the PDD were involved in looting the exchequer in nexus with some people. He disclosed that bill of a factory was reduced from Rs 18 lakh to Rs 1.6 lakh. As against 10970 MU availability of power, the State had 16,320 MU requirements, a shortfall of 58 per cent.
“The Government was working on unbundling of T&D system in the State to transform it into a Corporation, distribution and trading companies. He said that 20 power projects have been launched in the State to generate over 7000 MWs of power in near future. He added that 16000 MWs of power potential has been identified and projects would be taken up accordingly.
Referring to demand raised by some MLAs for on spot police recruitment, the Chief Minister admitted imbalance in recruitment and declared that next two to three phases of direct recruitment would be conducted in Jammu. Earlier, he said, on spot recruitment was confined to under represented areas but not it was being extended to difficult and backward areas also.
However, he had a word of caution for the MLAs saying during the tenure of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad, on spot recruitment was conducted in 16 Assembly segments. Barring two (Mian Altaf and Taj Mohi-ud-Din), all other 14 MLAs lost the election. Going by the past trend, he said he would like on spot recruitment to be conducted in the constituencies of his ‘friends’.
Lauding the role of Special Police Officers (SPOs), Omar said the Government has recommended increase in their honorarium from Rs 3000 per month to Rs 5000 per month to the Central Government.
On Passport issue, Omar said the government has revoked the erstwhile order under which the relatives of the militants had been put in a blacklist.
“No blacklist exists now. We have given categorical orders that the relatives of the militants who have no connection with militancy should not be debarred for giving clearance for passport”, he said adding that the process of clearance would be made more smooth by removing other conditions put in the clearance process of passports for the relatives of militants.
On the development of power, the Chief Minister said that opposition (PDP) should have appreciated the initiative of the coalition government for retrieving power projects from NHPC, but it was instead trying to create false impression about the good intensions of the Government in regard of the launch of joint ventures with NHPC and other power companies in the State.
“When the maintenance for Baglihar Power Project was given to the NHPC for two years to train the State Engineers for capacity building and running and maintaining the power house, the opposition at that time also created unnecessary hype”, he said adding that the project has now been received back after the period of two years and is run by State Power Development Corporation.
“Similar negative hype was created by the main opposition party (PDP) regarding the conversion of J&K Bank overdrafts mechanism into Ways and Means initiative but this also proved unfounded and the Bank has shown significant profit under the new regime”, he maintained.
The Chief Minister said that despite the heavy burden due to increase in the salary of employees from over Rs. 4500 crores to about Rs. 11000 crores by the implementation of 6th Pay Commission the coalition government has maintained the growth and registered Rs. 1300 crore addition in the State’s financial resources. “We are highly thankful to the Centre Government for providing liberal financial support to the State to meet all challenges and carry forward the development agenda smoothly”, he said.
Omar said that the road communication has been flagged as focused area which was obvious by providing Rs. 865 crores allocation to R&B sector in the last year’s budget. He said that those who did not want to see the works on ground will not see the progress. He said that 2741 kilometres of roads have been macadamized last year while 2493 kilometres have been upgraded, besides construction of 26 new roads and 18 bridges.
The Chief Minister said under PMGSY 178 remote villages and hamlets have been connected with roads adding that the annual expenditure under PMGSY has increased from Rs. 5 crores to Rs. 300 crores last year which is likely to go to Rs. 500 crores to next year. He said over Rs. 1700 crores have been spent on various road projects under NABARD out of the same amount released for these schemes which marks 100 percent utilization. He said 93 projects covering all constituencies have been sent to the Centre for approval besides 10 projects recommended by District Development Boards.
The Chief Minister said that his government is working on strengthening both single line administration and panchayat system in the State and a comprehensive strategy for the same is under formulation.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 26: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, who is also the Minister Incharge Home Department, today said that 2177 women including foreigners have been arrested under different offences during the last two years.
“Three persons including two foreigners and one Indian have been detained in the State under the Public Safety Act, 1978 as on February 20, 2012”, the Chief Minister said in a written reply to the question of People’s Democratic Party MLA, Dr Shafi Ahmed Wani in the Lower House of the State Legislature.
He said that 1544 women including four Myanmar nationals were arrested from Jammu region and 633 women including four belonging to Pakistan were arrested in Kashmir division.
Of the total 2177 women, 468 were below the age of 25 years, 661 between 26 to 35 years of age, 769 between 36-45 years of age and 279 were of 46 years and above, the Chief Minister further said.
He said that 405 women were arrested for rioting, 122 in stabbing cases, 84 for abetment to suicide, 62 in attempt to murder, 55 in murder, 15 for obscene act in public places, 44 for theft, 17 for assault on Government servants and the remaining under miscellaneous crime cases.
In response to another question, the Chief Minister said, “every effort is being made to ensure that no person below the age of 18 years is arrested/ detained under the J&K Public Safety Act”, adding “presently there is no such detenue”.
Responding to another query, he said that 273 foreign nationals were lodged in different jails of the State till February 26, 2012. However, no political prisoner has been lodged in the jails outside the State, the Chief Minister added.