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Can Omar Abdullah afford to watch his decisions being flouted by his team?
7/12/2011 12:27:00 AM
Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 11: It seems to be a hands up situation for the political masters in Jammu and Kashmir as senior bureaucrats and now even vice chancellors have mustered the courage (read arrogance) to flout the directives of the chief minister, Omar Abdullah.
Some time back, the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Kashmir announced its decision to establish the forestry college of the university in chief minister, Omar Abdullah's Ganderbal constituency.
All the ground work was completed by the university authorities after land was identified at Benhama village of Ganderbal district. Besides, fencing the area where the proposed forestry college is to come up, the university authorities also started construction of some basic buildings at the site.
Suddenly, midway, the university authorities developed 'interest in shifting the forestry college to some other location'.
Earlier to this, some of the senior leaders of the ruling National Conference including Mir Saifullah and Sharief-ud-Din Shariq had demanded that the forestry college be shifted to the north Kashmir Kupwara district arguing that the district was under developed and did not have a single institution which would attract developmental and academic interest towards the district.
Voices were also heard within the SKUAST (K) and these 'rumours' were carried to the chief minister, Omar Abdullah. Delegations from his Ganderbal constituency also called on the chief minister to apprise him of the 'conspiracy being hatched to shift the university out of the CM's constituency'.
Firm and confident, Omar Abdullah made a categorical announcement that the forestry college and its faculty would be established at Ganderbal and nowhere else in the Valley.
Mouths were silenced by the chief minister's announcement, but just for a short while. After the present vice chancellor, Tej Partap Singh took over, efforts to deprive the chief minister's constituency of the forestry college were again revived. The vice chancellor, who reportedly enjoys proximity to the power centres in the state, has given his blessings to the efforts for shifting the proposed college to a new location.
To begin their exercise in a 'legal and subtle manner', the university authorities have now decided to 'establish the campus of the forestry college somewhere else for the time being'.
The authorities argue that since the forestry college and its infrastructure is yet to come up at the proposed site in Ganderbal, its campus would start functioning from a 'more convenient location for the time being'.
Residents of Ganderbal maintain that the move to start the forestry college from a temporary location outside the proposed campus is the beginning of the end for the Ganderbal campus of the college.
The chief minister will have to ensure that his decisions are taken to logical conclusion by his ministers, officers and those working at top slots in different organizations, argue the locals in Ganderbal.
The chief minister cannot afford to have his own instructions flouted by his officials or those heading other autonomous organizations in the state. The subtle shifting of the forestry college from Ganderbal would be a small, but powerful message to followers of Omar Abdullah in his home turf.
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