KL Report
SRINAGAR
Ridiculing the boast of Omar Abdullah that he would empty the coffers of the state on the welfare of people, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Saturday said it comes as a joke at a time when there is hardly anything in the treasury to spend.
Senior Party PDP leader and Member of Parliament, Muzzafar Hussain Baig in a statement said the National Conference is busy employing the same old tricks bringing permanent destruction of the system and frustration among the people, in order to gain some votes. “The job bonanza announced everyday by the government and promise of foundation stones comes at an immense cost to the system as even the existing employees don not get salaries for months and casual, seasonal and daily rated workers are paid if at all token amounts once or twice a year,” he said.
Baig alleged projects started by previous government have been almost shelved as a result of delayed execution and cost over runs. Similarly, centrally sponsored schemes and projects under state plan have badly suffered with the state losing enormous amounts under both because the capacity of the government under Omar Abdullah has shrunk drastically, with resources worth thousands of crores surrendered each year, added Baig.
Referring to the media reports Baig said the treasuries across Kashmir are having liabilities of more than Rupees 400 crores affecting government employees, pensioners and contractors. “In such a grim financial situation the phony announcements about spending fortunes on people sounds comic,” he added.
Baig said Omar Abdullah government has made the state almost bankrupt in last six years. To cope up with emergencies like the one prevailing at present when treasuries are unable to honour bills, the J&K Bank would serve the state, but this government by handing over its debt management and overdraft facility to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deprived the state of its last resort, he said.
Baig, who represents North Kashmir in the Lok Sabha, expressed concern over the way the ruling government, for its trivial political gains, has subverted the normal employment process by bypassing the established institutions of recruitment in the state- thus marring the merit to benefit its own people,. “It has been the age old policy of the National Conference not to allow the institutions to grow because they fear that they won’t be able to resort to malpractices once the institutions start working transparently,” he said.
He said the faith PDP was able to restore in the recruitment process after 2002, where merit was the only consideration for selection, the NC-led government, through its brazen frauds and murky money dealings, has again made the whole system suspect.
