SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said that he has never claimed that the Lieutenant Governor has all the powers.
Talking to the reporters, the Chief Minister said, “I have never said that the LG has all the powers. The Lieutenant Governor has himself stated that his responsibilities are limited to security and law & order. This is why I am saying that the business rules accepted by the cabinet should be signed by the LG and returned to end the confusion over power distribution.”
“We have been saying that the Lieutenant Governor has only one responsibility, i.e., to secure the people of J&K; the rest is our responsibility,” he said.
Pertinently, on June 14, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had drawn a clear distinction regarding his administrative powers, stating that only the Police Department falls under his direct control, while other crucial sectors like roads, water, power, and agriculture will be the domain of the elected government.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister said that the people stuck in Iran were being evacuated gradually. “We cannot evacuate them in a single night. No port or airport is open in Iran at present. We have been shifting the stuck people to safer places and then evacuating them back home,” he said, adding that more than 400 students, mostly from J&K, are returning home today as well.
He added that there was no reason to bomb Iran at a time when the American intelligence head has recently claimed that Iran is nowhere close to building nuclear weapons, but Israel has attacked Iran, which needs to be stopped and all the issues be resolved through dialogue. (KNO)
