SRINAGAR: Stating that his first endeavour is to restore the honour of J&K citizens, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday said that people must have first rights on land, jobs and resources.
He also termed the growing drug abuse as a major issue for the government and sought support from religious heads and civil society members for eradicating the menace.
Addressing his maiden interaction with the members of Civil Society at SKICC after taking the oath as the J&K’s Chief Minister, Omar, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), he gave a patient hearing to every one’s speech. “Important issues were discussed here. Speeches were made and claps were seen in response to the good speeches. The points highlighted by Private Schools Association head Dr G N Var somehow touched everyone. His points were not confined to his domain only but other broader issues,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that after a long time J&K has got an elected government. “I was a Chief Minister earlier also. But there is a difference, rather a huge difference between the past and the present,” Omar said.
“Now I want to respond to the points raised here. Don’t we have a right to live a dignified life. Sadak, Bijli and Pani is something we will get. But all these things are meaningless if we have no respect,” Omar said. “Here, I want to assure you that we will fight for things. But I want our honour to be restored. People of J&K should have first rights to their jobs, land and resources.”
He said that the press, judiciary, Bar Association, trade unions, labour unions need to be strengthened.
“This is a need so that people feel there is no force or fear but a real handholding and cooperative approach,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister said that he recently met Prime Minister Narendera Modi and other Ministers in New Delhi. “I got assurances in full that whatever is good for the benefit of J&K will be done,” Omar said.
Omar pointed out that the J&K hasn’t reached a stage where it can run without a hand holding. “Be it horticulture, power or other sectors, we need to reach a stage of self-sufficiency. Then we can tell the Centre that thank you very much for holding our hand so far but now we are self-sufficient and can run our affairs on our own,” Omar said.
He said the issue of drug abuse raised by Civil Society members needs special attention. “When I was the CM, I made a speech on drugs in 2012. At that point of time, drugs were not that big an issue. It was confined to codeine and other pills etc. But today, things have changed. There is a consumption of heroin, brown sugar and other substances which is consuming the lives of our younger generation,” the CM said. He urged the religious heads and civil society members to join hands with the government to eradicate the drug menace from the society. “At the same time, there is a need for opening more Drug De-Addiction (DDA) centres across J&K,” he said.
The CM said that next time he would meet the Civil Society members, Action Taken Reports (ATRs) will be shared on the issues discussed today. Cabinet Ministers Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, Javaid Dar, Javaid Rana, Sakina Itoo, Satish Sharma were present besides Chief Secretary Atal Dullo, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir V K Bhiduri, IGP Kashmir V K Bhirdi, and other officers were present on the occasion. Over 100 Civil Society member participated in the interactive session as well.