SRINAGAR, AUGUST 15: Seemingly frustrated with truncated power, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said the system of governance looks good on paper but fails in reality.
“It is a governance structure designed for failure,” he said
Sharing his personal experience of leading both a State and now a Union Territory, he was candid in his critique:
“I do not want anyone to be the Chief Minister of a Union Territory. This system of governance looks good on paper, but fails in reality. It is a governance structure designed for failure.”
Omar said that no one should aspire to become the CM of a Union Territory. “People will ask why you take part in the electoral process of a UT, but I didn’t know it would be made so difficult. The situation has come to such a pass that Cabinet decisions are stopped and not issued. What will the elected government do if its hands are tied?” the CM asked.
The CM likened the functioning of the current administration to “tying a horse’s front legs and then asking it to run,” citing instances where Cabinet decisions were stalled, altered, or left unapproved.
Despite these hurdles, he outlined achievements over the past 10 months, including:
· Passing a resolution in the J&K Assembly to restore special status and statehood.
· Cabinet approval for statehood restoration.
· Budgetary decisions benefiting education, health, social welfare, transport, tourism, and agriculture.
· Quick restoration of electricity during winter outages.
· Expansion of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP).
· Launch of “Mission Yuva” to create livelihoods for 4–4.5 lakh youth.
· Increasing MLAs’ Constituency Development Fund to empower elected representatives.
He stressed the urgent need to restore the “triple chain of accountability” envisioned by the Supreme Court, ensuring bureaucracy is answerable to the elected government and the elected government to the Assembly.