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| Coalition will never have CMP, | | Omar takes sarcasm to confirm | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, March 3: Confirming that the Coalition Government of the National Conference and the Congress will never have a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for governance, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah put it sarcastically –we want to do maximum and not the minimum.
Replying to the discussion on motion of thanks on the Governor’s address in the Legislative Council, Omar took the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party to task for questioning absence of CMP. He said that element of faith and trust between NC and the Congress was enough run the government smoothly.
Omar reminded them that when they were in power they were only concerned with completing their three years term and no sooner than this period came to a close they started troubling the coalition partner. “This was your common minimum programme”, he reminded them.
Abdullah said that the present dispensation was not a government of slogans and propaganda. “We have the mandate of serving the people for the next 6 years and we will do exactly that”, he said, adding that the Government will come up to the expectations of the people and deliver on ground. He said that Jammu Kashmir will witness a complete transformation in development profile in the coming years, the effects of which will become evident to all.
Stating that Mumbai terror attack has had an adverse impact on the Indo-Pak relations, Mr. Abdullah said that good relations between the two neighbours are important for lasting peace in the region and the Government would do every thing to facilitate better Indo-Pak relations. He hoped that the confidence building measures like ceasefire at borders, cross LoC exchanges and trade are taken forward.
The Chief Minister said that Government was open to dialogue with all shades of opinion and ready to facilitate it at other forums. Recalling the earlier initiatives by Dr. Farooq Abdullah to break ice by facilitating talks between HM and the Centre and four months truce during Vajpayee Government, he said that they were a good beginning which needs to be taken to logical conclusion without making attempts to take any political mileage out of it. He said the Government would again work for restoring the dialogue process and initiate political measures to resolve all issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir
Abdullah said recommendations of Working Groups constituted in Roundtable Conferences were being actively considered by the Government as it believes in resolving all issues through political means. He said that the Government was awaiting the recommendations of fifth Working Group on Centre-State relations so that they were discussed for implementation. He said he had written to the Chairman of the fifth Working Group to start deliberations and finalize the report.
The Chief Minister said that the Centre would be approached for compensating the State for the losses suffered due to the Indus Water Treaty. He said the Government would take up with the central government the transfer of Salal and Dul Hasti Power Project to the State as recommended by the Working Group. He said the Indus water Treaty was a stumbling block in the complete harnessing of the full potential of hydro power of the State. He said honouring the power sharing agreement over Thein Dam and construction of Shahpora Kandi Barrage would also be pursued with Punjab Government.
Abdullah said that in order to achieve self-sufficiency in power work would be taken up on Baglihar-II, Parnai and New Ganderbal hydel projects besides diversifying into Geo-Thermal and Wind energy. He said that panchayats would be empowered to manage such micro-level power projects adding that every effort would be made to strengthen grass-root governance by devolution of powers to panchayats. He announced that panchayat elections would be held after Lok Sabha polls so that people were involved in plan formation as per the local needs.
Referring to the unemployment problem, the Chief Minister called for steering the youth from government jobs to private sector adding that Government sector alone can not resolve the unemployment problem. “We have to involve the corporate sector in a big way to address this problem”, he said, adding that by raising the capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises by only 25 per cent, additional employment for over 3.5 lakh youth would be generated. He said that big industrial houses in the country were eagerly watching the success of ESSAR Group which had recently launched its Rs. 100 crore project at Srinagar and was also starting similar project at Jammu. He said “all of us have to work collectively to ensure the success of ESSAR Group to ensure arrival of other big corporate houses”.
Stating that agriculture, horticulture, tourism, floriculture and industries were the sectors promising greater employment opportunities for youth, the Chief Minister said that time had come to shift from subsistence agriculture to economic crop patterns and formulate projects on modern lines to assist youth to venture into these fields. He said that with the start of international flights from Srinagar Airport, export of flowers to Dubai and other countries had become a reality. He said that to provide economic security to the farmers, crop insurance scheme would be started.
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