Published On:Tuesday, 4 November 2014
I trekked up a mountain to reach people: Omar
Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that no government could have done better than we he did during the floods that ravaged the valley. In an interview to a national daily Omar also said that he was satisfied because he did everything that he could do in the given circumstances. The Chief Minister also said that in order to reach out to the people he ‘trekked up a mountain thrice to reach out to people’.
“I truly believe given the circumstances we were working under nobody could have done better. The fact is that less than 50 people died in the entire floods in Srinagar and more people died in a single bus incident in Rajouri. Nobody died as a result of disease. We lifted tens of thousands of garbage from the city. We have had not a single outbreak of waterborne diseases. We have scientifically buried more than 1600 animal carcasses. We have vaccinated 10 lakh people in less than a month against measles”, Hindustan Times quoted Omar as having said.
“If I had stood in the middle of the chowk, how would have that benefited the relief. The relief effort was made from the temporary secretariat in Srinagar and airport. I made sure I was present there. I travelled to areas like Anantnag. I trekked up a mountain thrice to reach out to people through radio Kashmir. Everybody said that people in Kashmir don’t die of floods they die of diseases thereafter. Whether anybody gives us credit for that or not, I will have the satisfaction that I did what I could”, Omar added.
In the interview the Chief Minister also admitted that he just had ‘one good year’ in 2012 and that when he took over as the Chief Minister things very volatile with Jammu not even ‘taking’ to Kashmir. “I had one good year and that was 2012. During the 2009 Shopian case, it was street agitations all the way. We don’t choose the circumstances that we rule in. Rest, we have to make the most of what we are given. I inherited a much polarised state after 2008 Amarnath land row. Jammu wasn’t talking to Kashmir. I didn’t choose floods, they happened. I did not choose to have the agitations but they happened. They were the results of what I inherited in 2008. Jammu and Srinagar weren’t talking to each other. Kashmir was not even willing to do business with Jammu, they were buying from Ludhiana and Jalandhar, Darbar move employees from Jammu did not want to come to Kashmir. I am definitely finishing with a much better state than what I inherited”, Omar was quoted.
Omar also dismissed speculations that he left Ganderbal as he was looking for a safe seat. He argues Sonwar is where he lives and his grandmother came from Beerwah. “It is in no way a safe seat, it is very strange that I will leave a constituency which I represent for a constituency that the PDP represents. I am contesting from Beerwah which in last two elections has been represented by the PDP, how does that logic fly? Everybody changes constituencies, when Muftis contest from Bijbehara and Anantnag, as they are their home areas, there is no hue and cry. When I do, all hell is supposed to break loose”, Omar said.
“I truly believe given the circumstances we were working under nobody could have done better. The fact is that less than 50 people died in the entire floods in Srinagar and more people died in a single bus incident in Rajouri. Nobody died as a result of disease. We lifted tens of thousands of garbage from the city. We have had not a single outbreak of waterborne diseases. We have scientifically buried more than 1600 animal carcasses. We have vaccinated 10 lakh people in less than a month against measles”, Hindustan Times quoted Omar as having said.
“If I had stood in the middle of the chowk, how would have that benefited the relief. The relief effort was made from the temporary secretariat in Srinagar and airport. I made sure I was present there. I travelled to areas like Anantnag. I trekked up a mountain thrice to reach out to people through radio Kashmir. Everybody said that people in Kashmir don’t die of floods they die of diseases thereafter. Whether anybody gives us credit for that or not, I will have the satisfaction that I did what I could”, Omar added.
In the interview the Chief Minister also admitted that he just had ‘one good year’ in 2012 and that when he took over as the Chief Minister things very volatile with Jammu not even ‘taking’ to Kashmir. “I had one good year and that was 2012. During the 2009 Shopian case, it was street agitations all the way. We don’t choose the circumstances that we rule in. Rest, we have to make the most of what we are given. I inherited a much polarised state after 2008 Amarnath land row. Jammu wasn’t talking to Kashmir. I didn’t choose floods, they happened. I did not choose to have the agitations but they happened. They were the results of what I inherited in 2008. Jammu and Srinagar weren’t talking to each other. Kashmir was not even willing to do business with Jammu, they were buying from Ludhiana and Jalandhar, Darbar move employees from Jammu did not want to come to Kashmir. I am definitely finishing with a much better state than what I inherited”, Omar was quoted.
Omar also dismissed speculations that he left Ganderbal as he was looking for a safe seat. He argues Sonwar is where he lives and his grandmother came from Beerwah. “It is in no way a safe seat, it is very strange that I will leave a constituency which I represent for a constituency that the PDP represents. I am contesting from Beerwah which in last two elections has been represented by the PDP, how does that logic fly? Everybody changes constituencies, when Muftis contest from Bijbehara and Anantnag, as they are their home areas, there is no hue and cry. When I do, all hell is supposed to break loose”, Omar said.
