SRINAGAR: In an attempt to woe the voters as polls are round the corner, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Friday announced 12 percent reduction in electricity duty. He also declared 5 percent reservation for the Pahari speaking people and an increase of reservation from 2 to 4 percent for the people falling in OBC category. While declaring such sops, Omar Abdullah made it clear that he is not creating trouble for the next government, as he will contest elections with a hope to win. “Don’t think that I am emptying the treasury for the next person. As far as I am concerned, I am fighting these elections to win them and not to lose them,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the I-Day function.
When asked about the opposition criticism that he was emptying the state coffers on populist measures as a last ditch effort ahead of Assembly Elections, Omar said he was contesting the polls to win. Please dont say now that I am emptying treasuries. Those people who write columns for GK (Greater Kashmr) and other news papers can talk about the issue when it will be their turn. Government will be decided by people and not by those and we will see the acumen of the people when they take oath and become finance minister, if it comes to that. We have seen their work when they were in position of power,” Omar was referring to PDP leader Dr Haseeb Drabu for criticizing government over failure in fiscal policy.
Pertinently, former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Haseeb Drabu, who is contesting the forthcoming elections on a PDP ticket, has criticised the state government’s fiscal policy through his write-ups in Greater Kashmir.
Declaring himself as the Chief Ministerial candidate, Omar Abdullah said that he is hopeful that the next government will be headed by him.
The Chief Minister also announced reduction of Electricity Duty by 12 percent bringing it down from present 22 percent to 10 percent. He also ordered for implementation of new Amnesty Scheme for power sector.
The Chief Minister said that while his government has provided 40 percent more power to the people during his present tenure, he wanted to give them further relief by way of reducing electricity duty. He said the change in the fee structure is the jurisdiction of the State Electricity Regulatory Authority (SERA), as such, he could provide the relief to the people by way of reducing the electricity duty.
Omar Abdullah said that his government had persuaded the Central Government for declaring Pahari speaking people as Schedule Tribes and he had expected that the UPA-II Government would decide in this regard but that didnt happen. In order to give relief to the Pahari speaking people as also accommodate the demand of OBCs, I announce 5 percent reservation quota for Pahari speaking people and 2 percent in favour of OBCs, he said adding that OBCs are presently enjoying 2 percent reservation and the increase of more 2 percent will raised it to 4 percent. He said he would continue to pursue the declaration of Schedule Tribe status for Pahari speaking people at the Central level.
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