Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday termed the shifting of the state capital between Jammu and Srinagar twice every year as "waste of money", but said no viable alternative to the arrangement has come forth so far. "Do I think the 'Durbar move' (shifting of capital) is a waste of money? Yes I do. Is there an alternative? I haven't seen a viable alternative suggested," Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter.com. The state government shifts its capital from Jammu to Srinagar in the first week of May every year and functions here for six months before moving back to Jammu along with volumes of records. The state government spends crores of rupees on travel allowances for the nearly 5,000 employees and transportation of hundreds of thousands of files between the twin capitals. In response to a tweet from his follower, Omar said the Darbar move practice was "escapist". "I agree. We run away when people need us most and (they) face the most difficulty. The darbar move is escapist," he said. The state government's 'move offices', as they are known in local parlance, will close in Jammu on April 28 and reopen here on May 7. The ...
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Jammu, While speaking on the current hot issue of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) here on Wednesday, Union minister for new and renewable energy, Farooq Abdullah said that the Central government will not be able to counter terrorism without the states' cooperation. Talking to media-persons at the sidelines of Talent Hunt Program organized by the Bbeing undertaken by the National Cricket Academy, Farooq said, "It is good that finally the prime minister has consulted the state chief ministers on NCTC because Centre should not have taken any decision without consulting them. Union minister said that nobody curtailed the state authorities intentionally. There has been some mistake on forming NCTC but now the prime minister has written letters chief ministers and the matter will be resolved soon. Meanwhile on a proposal that would amount to taking away the powers of the Election Commission to enforce the Model Code of Conduct, Farooq said, "The powers of Election Commission should not be affected.'' The union minister further observed that it is an autonomous body and the powers should not be taken away. . He told that the objective of the NCTC is to ensure that ...
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Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today favoured Centre-state consultations to put at rest any controversy over setting up of National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC). "There has been no discussion between state government and the central government on the issue of NCTC. I do not think it would be appropriate as chief minister for me to publicly comment about it, before I privately share the feelings of the state government with the Union government on this crucial issue," Omar Abdullah told reporters on sidelines of a function here, 20km from Srinagar. He said consultation between the Centre and the states was essential to put at rest the controversy surrounding NCTC. "I have no doubt that in the days and months ahead, the central government will call the state governments for consultation. I believe consultation is essential and during the course of that consultation we will share the thoughts of the state government with the Centre," he said. Chief ministers of a dozen states have voiced their opposition to the creation of the NCTC but Omar Abdullah did not speak either in favour or against ...
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Coimbatore, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah has attacked political factions, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for exploiting the country's vast religious and cultural diversity to win votes. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here, Abdullah criticised leaders for using religion to mobilise and channelise the emotions of the people. "When I (in reference to any political leader) want to win an election, I will say Allah (God) is in danger, not saying that Farooq Abdullah (in reference to any political leader) is in danger…So, I say Allah is in danger, and I am here on behalf of Allah. (A) Hindu (leader) will get up and say, I will bring a Ram temple. Build it, who stops you? Go and build it. But, don''t fool the people, that we are all saviours," Abdullah said. Leaders must also refrain from dividing India on religious or cultural grounds merely to consolidate their votebanks, said Abdullah. "When will that time come when we no longer divide India on religion, on language (and) on culture. God has given us a nation, which is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and our hearts beats with the same beat for India. It is ...
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Jammu, Playing down the row over visit of controversial author Salman Rushdie to India, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said Rushdie had visited the country in the past as well. Abdullah claimed that vested interest have raked up the issue to exploit it for political purposes in the upcoming elections in the five states. “Salman Rushdie has come before this also. Why suddenly is Salman Rushdie becoming an issue? Clearly there are those who are seeking to exploit this for political purposes given that there are elections in five states,” said Abdullah. Abdullah said that it was unnecessary to blow the issue of Rushdie’s visit to India out of proportion. “We underestimate the intelligence of Indian Muslims when we try to raise issues like this which have no bearing on day to day concerns of Muslims. I don’t believe that there are many Muslims in India for whom visa to Salman Rushdie will be an election issue,” added Abdullah. An influential Islamic seminary, Darululoom Deoband seminary, has urged the central government to deny visa to Rushdie, who would be attending a literature festival later this month. India-born ...
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Bangalore, Commenting over the recent differences between United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with key partner Trinamool Congress (TMC), Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would "bridge the ties" with its key ally. Talking to reporters here, Abdullah said: "Soon things between them would be sorted out." "I think, they are going to patch up, these things do happen. Sometimes there are irritants around but I am sure that Prime Minister is going to be able to bridge the thing," he added. Abdullah further said that it was important to find ways to overcome differences. "I don''t think we should find our faults now, we should find out how to patch up rather than finding faults," he said. The alliance of the TMC and the Congress had run into troubled waters on several issues like the passage of bill for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the domestic retail market or the recent issue of the Lokpal Bill. Strains were visible during the parliamentary debate on the anti-graft Lokpal Bill last week, when TMC did a volte-face and opposed certain provisions in the government-draft of the legislation. Despite several ...
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Srinagar, In view of massive protests across Kashmir valley against power crisis, the Power Development Department (PDD) today said it has decided to increase the power supply to 1,100 mw in the region from current 951 mw. "Consequent to a high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on December 29, 2011 to review the status of essential supplies including that of power supply in the state, particularly the Kashmir valley, during the winter season, the PDD has ensured that energy supply to Kashmir valley is significantly increased to give immediate relief to the common man from severe winter conditions prevailing in the valley," Power Development Commissioner M A Salroo said in a statement here. He said current electricity supply level has gone upto 951 mw from an average of 850 mw to Kashmir valley earlier, and now and "the effort of the PDD would be to increase it further to 1,100 mw in coming days". Mr Salroo said electricity supply has increased by 10 per cent to nearly 5,809 lakh units in December 2011 as against 5,300 lakh units in the same month previous year. The PDD has also been directed to put into operation gas turbines immediately to give ...
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Sanaa, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has traveled to Riyadh to attend the signing ceremony of a Gulf-sponsored power transfer deal between the government and the opposition. Yemini media confirmed Saleh’s arrival in Riyadh today to attend the signing ceremony of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) deal and its mechanism, Xinhua reports. According to a Yemeni official, the unannounced visit came upon a request of the Saudi government leaders and the UN secretary general to end the country’s 10-month-old unrest after the ruling party and opposition reached a political compromise which was mediated by the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal bin Omar. Yemeni opposition activists have been staging mass protests since January to demand an immediate end to Saleh’s 33-year autocratic rule. A government crackdown on the protests and fighting between government troops and opposition militiamen has killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands ...
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