KL Report
SRINAGAR
National Conference(NC) on Friday ridiculed J&K Chief Minister’s “senseless and insensitive lavish trips to Delhi and Mumbai at one pretext or the other and said this behavior by Mufti Sayeed was tragic at a time when thousands of flood victims continued to be deprived of compensation and rehabilitation – something PDP had both promised ahead of the elections and also floated as a justification for entering into an alliance with the BJP.”
NC Spokesman in a statement said, “Mufti Sahab was disconnected from the ground realities of a Kashmir that had been devastated by the natural calamity in September and was rather busy in taking his entourage for lavish, social outings in Delhi and Mumbai.
“Bollywood is already shooting in the Valley. Numerous Bollywood movies have been shot in Kashmir in the last six years. Shahrukh Khan was here in 2014 to shoot for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Salman Khan just returned from Kashmir after shooting in Pahalgam. Mufti Sahab under the guise of promoting tourism is preaching to the choir. If Mufti Sahab wants to splurge the devastated tax-payers’ money for his social outings in Mumbai, he should have the courage to say so. If the CM had an iota of sympathy for the Tourism players or the flood victims – he would not have trivialized the 44,000 crore flood relief package that had a component of helping our Tourism players to rebuild and cope with the losses”, the NC Spokesman said.
The NC Spokesman said that J&K Government and its Finance Minister stood completely exposed, their self-indulgent rhetoric being debunked by the fact that the BJP Government in New Delhi had chosen to throw alms at the State in the form of a few hundred crores as flood relief package. “Dr. Drabu incidentally questions the intelligence of all and sundry when questions are raised about the absurdity and contemptuous snub of the flood relief package being a mere 1,500 crores instead of the 44,000 crores proposed by the Omar Abdullah Government. Well, if the Flood Relief Package that BJP has promised PDP and Dr. Drabu according to Dr. Drabu is in fact much more, where is it? When will the flood victims get it? It has already been more than six months since the devastating floods when PDP foisted an election on a shattered Valley with the excuse of the new Government working for the flood victims. Where is the relief? This is not only a failure to stick to your promises but the shamelessness that follows such tragic failures”, NC Spokesman Junaid Mattu said.
“Now rather than focusing on rebuilding the Public Infrastructure and also facilitating rebuilding of the Private Infrastructure – including Private Tourism Infrastructure, Mufti Sahab is spending precious tax-payers money for his lavish dinners in 5-star hotels in Delhi and Mumbai. On one hand the Chief Minister takes his drama brigade to the Press Enclave and says the State is completely broke and penniless but on the other hand he splurges the tax-payers money for his redundant adventures in Mumbai. The PDP Government and the Chief Minister seem to be hell bent to insult the flood victims”, the NC Spokesman further stated.
The NC Spokesman said the Mufti Government had turned a blind eye towards the condition of our roads – even those connecting Srinagar to major tourist destinations like Pahalgam and Gulmarg. “Mufti Sahab wants to promote tourism in Mumbai in a select gathering of elites without being concerned about the fact that the road to Pahalgam from Srinagar for instance is almost un-motorable. Most of the roads in the Valley are in shambles and despite the weather having improved, the State Government is least concerned to address this problem. Numerous hotels could not re-open after the floods and suffered enormous losses. These entrepreneurs and businessmen expected the Government to fight for a flood relief package but unfortunately Mufti Sahab has surrendered his voice at the Durbaar in New Delhi in exchange of becoming the Chief Minister for six years”, Mattu added.
