KL Report
SRINAGAR
National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah Saturday addressed a massive public meeting in Ganderbal and said that Ganderbal was and will forever remain close to his heart and will always receive his focused attention.
According to spokesman, youth on motorcycles and atop vehicles adorned with NC flags welcomed Omar Abdullah near Zakura and took him to Ganderbal Eidgah in a rally where party workers and supporters received Omar amid slogans in support of National Conference.
“This is the first time that I am coming to Ganderbal to ask for your precious votes for someone not from my family and I am touched and overwhelmed by your support and enthusiasm today. I stand inspired by the passion and spirit of the youth who received me in Ganderbal today and promise them that my personal bond and association with Ganderbal will remain unchanged till I live. After serving you for six years, we decided to give you a local leader from within Gandberal as an initiative to empower local leadership and after witnessing your passion today I am certain that Ishfaq Jabar will receive unhindered support from you. Ishfaq is a young, educated leader and will continue the work that I did in Ganderbal for the last six years and we will together ensure that Ganderbal reaches new frontiers of development, employment generation and economic progress”, Omar Abdullah said while addressing the public meeting in Ganderbal.
Omar Abdullah while highlighting the work done by his Government for Ganderbal in the last six years listed the major development works in Ganderbal said that it was due to the efforts and struggle of National Conference that around 12 New Administrative Units had been created in Ganderbal Constituency which includes new Tehsils in Wakoora, Tulmulla (Kheerbhawani), Sherpathri and CD Blocks in Phaaq, Manigam and Batwina and Niabats for Wakura, Sherpathree, Manigam, Phaaq and Tulmulla. Besides, Omar Abdullah said work worth 52.56 crores on Ganderbal District Hospital was under progress, work on construction of Maternity Centre Watlab costing 1.28 crores was completed while as work on PHCs in Chadina, Khurhama, Tulmulla and Shuhama costing 3.18 crores and work on health sub-centers in Saloora, Chuntiwaliwar and Narayan costing 0.68 crores is under execution. “21 new health sub-centers have been created in Ganderbal District while as 12 sub-centers have been upgraded to New Type Public Health Centers (NTPHC) in District Ganderbal. 14 Middles schools and 10 High schools have been upgraded whereas 15 Water supply schemes (WSS) under NRDWP and District Sector costing 48.12 crores has been taken up for execution, out of which 7 schemes costing 25.97 crores stand completed. Similarly 9 irrigation schemes costing 42.19 crores have been taken up for execution, out of which 3 schemes costing 14.97 crores stand completed. Also, 6 schemes under NABARD costing 14.78 crores are under execution”, Omar Abdullah said.
Further elaborating on the work done in Gandberbal during the last six years, Omar Abdullah said “71 road projects costing 155.39 crores had been taken up for execution out of which 38 road projects costing 52.31 crores stand completed. 4 new bridges costing 26.18 crores are under construction while as 2 projects under NFB costing 4.31 crores are also under execution”. Giving details of the work done in the Power Sector in Ganderbal, Omar Abdullah said that 66 Receiving and Sub-stations costing 2.57 crores stand completed in Ganderbal while as 33 such projects under RGGVY-1 costing 0.24 crores stand completed. Electrification of 81 inhabitations under RGGVY-1 costing 10 crores was completed whereas electrification of further 167 inhabitations costing 21 cores have been proposed. Upgradation of Ganderbal town power network costing 15.96 crores has been proposed under R-APDRP. Construction of 6.3 MVA Receiving station at Dab Akura costing 2.2 crores has also been proposed.
The NC Working President said that it was surprising that Congress after six years of remaining in the Government and occupying key cabinet portfolios was attributing points of criticism to NC, while self-awarding the credit for all the good things to their party. “They are picking and choosing the good things done by my Government and publicizing them as their achievements while at the same time criticizing NC for things ironically they couldn’t themselves deliver on. While one may understand the need for Congress to do so given their political worries, the people are not as gullible as they might think them to be. The people know that it was National Conference that relentlessly and inexorably pushed all pro-people measures through the constraints of coalition politics time and again during the last six years despite regular hesitation and hurdles that we had to encounter”, Omar Abdullah said.
Lashing out at PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for trying to play both sides of the game, Omar Abdullah said that it was Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who made a melodramatic appeal to militants asking them to surrender as according to Mufti Sayeed, PDP was there to represent their sentiments and grievances. “Tragically it was the same Mufti Sayeed who, after making this appeal, sent those very militant commanders to their graves who had come to the talks table in Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s Government. That is where Mufti Sayeed’s healing touch started and ended. It started with a lie and ended with a betrayal with the youth of this State. Similarly it was PDP that opposed the Rehabilitation Policy for our youth who had crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control and wanted to return to their homes and normal lives. We supported that resolution while PDP opposed it and today more than 300 of our youth have returned from across the LoC under this rehabilitation policy. Similarly we changed the system of giving passports and made as many relaxations as we possibly could for facilitating the kith and kin of ex-militants to get their passports. These youth were blacklisted by the Mufti Sayeed Government and were denied their basic right to a passport during the PDP-Congress Government. While there might be cases where passports couldn’t be made available yet, there are thousands and thousands of cases of previously blacklisted applicants receiving passports in our tenure due to our persistent efforts. These are significant, concrete initiatives we have taken for our youth and for the spirit of reconciliation. As for PDP – they were satisfied by sending our youth to graves under the smokescreen of their hollow ‘healing touch’ and did nothing beyond that”, the NC Working President said while speaking in Ganderbal.
Welcoming the life-sentences handed out to the accused troops in the Machil Fake Encounter Case, Omar Abdullah said that this was a vindication of NC’s struggle for justice for the families of the Machil victims. “We never gave up on our demand for justice in the Machil case and we never surrendered our protest until a case was registered against the accused troops. We welcome this verdict and assure the people that we will continue to ask for the re-opening of the Pathribal Case as well and will always fight for the cause of justice and the truth”, Omar Abdullah said.
Omar Abdullah asked the people of Ganderbal to make a distinction between corrupt and uneducated politicians on one hand and educated and dynamic, young leaders like Ishfaq Jabar on the other hand. “Ishfaq Jabar will lead you with dedication and honesty and is an educated representative of the people of Ganderbal. I assure you that Ishfaq will carry on all the good work that has been done in Ganderbal and I ask you to strengthen my hands by making Ishfaq win from Ganderbal with a very high margin”, Omar Abdullah said while addressing the workers and supporters of National Conference.
NC General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, NC Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, NC Candidate for Ganderbal Ishfaq Jabar, NC District President Ganderbal Haji Abdul Rehman Mir also addressed the public meeting.
