People facing numerous problems: Omar

Srinagar, Jun 26: Jammu & Kashmir national Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah on Monday presided over a marathon five four review meeting of party’s South Zone functionaries including DDC members at Daksum Kokernag.
In the meeting, General Secretary Haji Ali Muhammad Sagar, Treasurer Shammi Oberoi, Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Spokesman Tanveer Sadiq, Senior Leader Sakina Itoo, Political Advisor to VP Mudassar Shahmiri, South Zone President Dr. Bashir Ahmed Veri, Member of Parliament Hasnain Masoodi, Provincial Secretary Showkat Mir, State Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar, district presidents Altaf Wani, Showkat Hussain, Gh Mohiudin Mir, VP Province Syed Tauqeer, constituency incharges Ab Majeed Larmi, Riyaz Khan, Choudhary Zaffar, Peer Mohammad Hussain, Sheikh Mohammad Rafi, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Faroz Ahmad, YNC Provincial President Salman Ali Sagar, Women’s Wing Provincial President Sabiya Qadri, YNC functionaries were present.
In addition to organizational issues and programs, the current political situation, various other issues like unemployment, administrative apathy, development deficit, plight of horticulturalists, ration crises, and increasing drug abuse were discussed at length by the participants.
Addressing the meeting, Omar Abdullah said that public sentiments and feelings have no meaning for the government in the present era. “We only get to see shoddy PR, nothing is being done to win people’s hearts. Claims made by government with regards to job extravaganza, infrastructure build up are not visible on ground,” he said.
Taking strong exception to holding of photo ops at the sacred shrines, Omar said, “We saw how Yoga day was observed, we aren’t against its celebration. it is celebrated all over the world, it was celebrated before this government came in and it will be celebrated after this government will go. The question arises was it necessary to use such a sacred space for such photo ops. The courtyards of our holy dargahs like Charar Sharif are being used for such photo ops.”
“In another shocking incident, forced entry was made inside a mosque in Pulwama allegedly by army personnel and people were coerced to raise slogans, which has hurt the sentiments of all of us. On the one hand, they say that we are winning people’s hearts, but on the other hand incidents such as these continue to happen. This way you will only push people to the wall and hurt their sentiments. Today people are so terrified that they do not have the courage to speak. The media has been suppressed so much that no one is ready to publish this news,” he said.
Omar Abdullah said that the ‘people of Jammu and Kashmir are currently facing numerous problems, but nothing is being done to mitigate them. “Look at the electricity situation, smart meters are being installed, but the electricity supply position in summer is worse than the winter months. Look at the ration situation, it was brought to 5 kg bit by bit and now even that 5 kg is not available. People are worried about the lack of clean drinking water, the basic needs are nowhere to be found, but the government is blind to people’s wows,” he said.
He said that the Home minister came here the other day and left after making big speeches but he didn’t bother to see the actual situation on the ground. He claimed that free treatment worth Rs 5 lakh is available with the gold card, but he did not know that his gold card is no longer accepted by many hospitals because the government didn’t disbursed the amount to pay for the bills.
Omar Abdullah urged the party leaders and office bearers to keep in close contact with the people and play their role in solving their problems.