Tasavur Mushtaq
SRINAGAR
Dr Haseeb A Drabu Monday presented his second budget as finance minister of PDP-BJP coalition government and dedicated it to his political mentor. He termed his speech as a tribute to the former Chief Minister.
“It was privilege of being late Mufti’s Finance Minister”, Drabu said while introducing his budget. “I have attempted to put into a framework the ‘Mufti Model of Governance’”. The budget started with interruptions by independent lawmaker Engineer Rashid. Though the vocal Drabu continued with his speech, the din triggered intervention from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri. Later Speaker Kavinder Gupta issued warning that he may have to marshall out the members who will trigger the mess in the house.
Dr Drabu said that late Mufti had combined “art and practice of politics and public service” with “personal integrity, political inclusivity and governance legitimacy.” His budget, he said, includes all the three themes.
Dr Drabu said his budget is aimed at in putting in place systems and processes which will reduce and eventually eliminate corruption in our system and society.
While talking about Mufti’s idea of ‘inclusivity’, Dr Drabu said that “this budget will try to promote inclusivity across all sections and segments of our society and build a safety net and give a human face to government without becoming a subsidy state.”
He further said that in the budget, “an attempt has been made to restore the administrative will and institutional mechanisms for plugging the loopholes in enforcing regulations.”
