Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s report on rationalization of reservation cannot be made public unless it is approved by the Lieutenant Governor.
Addressing a presser, Omar said he had never stated that the report would be made public within days.
“I had said that the cabinet sub-committee’s report will be prepared in the shape of a cabinet memo and sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval,” he said.
The CM said it is illegal to make the report public before it reaches the LG. “It will not happen overnight. No government works under pressure, and I am the last person who you can pressurize.”
“There is a procedure that is being followed. It is not only impropriety but bordering on illegality to release the information that has not even reached the Lieutenant Governor yet,” he said.
The CM, however, said there is no attempt to hide anything.
“Let the cabinet memo be finalized, let it be signed, let it reach the Lieutenant Governor. There is no attempt to hide and delay anything,” he said.
“We have completed our process. It is a matter of days that the Lieutenant Governor signs the cabinet memo, and all information will be put before the people, but we are not going to bypass the procedure just because somebody thinks they can exert pressure,” he said.
Meanwhile, Omar said the cabinet expansion would take place once bye-elections are held.
“It is a fact that constraints of being a Union Territory and artificially low number of ministers that were allowed to induct have its barring in terms of areas and communities that can find representations within the government. But, this belief that unless you are a minister you can’t work for an area is incorrect. I am not the Chief Minister of Ganderbal, Sakeena is not the minister for Noorbabad but of the entire J&K,” he said.
Omar said there is still the possibility to have a few more ministers. “It is something I am actively considering. Once bye-elections are held, we will see what happens”.
The CM said all promises made by the party with the people will be fulfilled in five years of tenure.
“There are some hurdles in our way, but all our promises to the people mentioned in the manifesto will be fulfilled in five years,” he said while replying to a query on 12 gas cylinders and increase in ration quota as promised ahead of 2024 Assembly polls.
The Chief Minister also reacted to the issue of smart meters installation, stating that the party never promised of doing away with the smart meters in its manifesto.
“We had promised 200 free units to the people, which can only be possible when the smart meters are installed. If smart meters are not installed then promises can’t be fulfilled as there would be no process to gauge the load of consumers,” he said.
Omar said the government has been trying to ensure the people would have better supply and reduction in the power bills and this has been possible only after the smart meter installation.
“The department tried to ensure better supply during winters and in recent floods as well, the electricity supply was restored. I want to ensure better supply to people, infrastructure to fulfill our promises,” he said.
CM said that as far as poor consumers are concerned, proper assessment of the load has resulted in reduction in their electricity bills. “We want to ensure free units to the poor, reduction in bills and better supply to the consumers,” he said.
On statehood, Omar said the centre never promised of its restoration only after the BJP comes into power
“We will have to hope for it. But, it is a fact that the statehood has been connected with Pahalgam, which is injustice with the people. The elected government was not responsible for it and the people also didn’t support the attack. Even those involved in the attack and later killed by the security forces were not from J&K. If we connect statehood to Pahalgam then it is injustice to the people,” he said.”
“We have been promised in the Parliament and Supreme Court that first delimitation, then election and later statehood will be restored. Two promises have been kept so far while the third is still pending. We hope it will be kept also and the government will be empowered,” he said.
“BJP should be honest in making the promises. It never stated that statehood will be granted only when they come to power. But, linking it with BJP and alliance with them is out of question. We have been suffering the after effects of the unnecessary alliance between BJP and PDP. Therefore, we won’t repeat the mistake that others have made in the past,” he said.
The Chief Minister said his-led government will revoke Public Safety Act (PSA) once statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is restored.
Omar said the government will not wait even for the assembly session but will revoke the law through an ordinance.
“When we made the party manifesto public, I asserted that many points flagged up can only be fulfilled when we will have statehood. This is a fact that security and law & order come within the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant Governor. So I once again reiterate once statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is restored, our government will revoke Public Safety Act (PSA) from J&K,” Omar said.