Gopalpora (Islamabad), Apr 10:  The Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and National Conference President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, on Saturday said that being part of a coalition government was a difficult task.
“There are always difficulties while working in a coalition setup as you can’t take every decision on your own. So, I will tell you frankly, had you given your verdict entirely to NC, we would not have been made to walk on bhaisaki (crutches) like we are,” Dr Farooq told a gathering at Gopalpora in south Kashmir, nearly 65 kilometers from Srinagar.
Taking a dig at the state government employees, Dr Farooq said, “Their strike is not justified. The government has assured them that their demands are being looked into and it is committed to fulfill these. But they have taken entire state as hostage. I hope that good sense prevails and they resume duties.”
“Rupees 4000 crore is a very huge sum and the government doesn’t even want to tax the people. It has approached the Center for funds and is pursuing the matter vigorously,” he said.
Commenting on the inter-district recruitment bill passed in the assembly on Friday, Dr Farooq said, “It was Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that introduced the inter-district recruitment bill in 2004, and now when NC passed the bill seeking ban on it, they created ruckus on the floor and broke the furniture.”
Appreciating the ‘wits’ of the Speaker, Dr Farooq said, “The Speaker of the assembly deserves appreciation for showing presence of mind and deducting salaries of the legislators for damaging the furniture of the assembly.”
He termed the apprehensions of 8 per cent reservation in the bill for schedule caste as a non-issue. “It still leaves 92 percent jobs for locals,” he added.
Dr Farooq urged the people to give correct information about the number of family members when the census is carried out.
Stressing upon the active participation of the people particularly women in the upcoming Panchayat elections, Dr Farooq said, “In order to strengthen the democratic institution at grass root level and shift the power from civil secretariat to villages the participation of the people particularly women in the Panchayat elections is must.”
He said that he would provide solar lights to the Gujjar families at subsidized rates.
He stressed upon the youth to go for the technical education.
He also said that there was a need to establish nursing council on the pattern of Medical Council of India (MCI). He further said that the role of the nurses in the health sector was very important and assured of setting up of a training school for them in SMHS.
Earlier Parliamentarian and senior NC leader Dr Mehboob Beg while addressing the gathering demanded the raising of the status of the Mirza Afzal Beg Memorial district hospital Islamabad at par with medical institute.
“District hospital Islamabad caters to the vast area of south Kashmir as well as Pir-Panchal districts so there is a dire need to raise its status.”
He also suggested “Fakhr-i-Kashmir” as its name.
Dr Beg also demanded the creation of the post of Assistant or Deputy Recruitment Commissioner for Islamabad district.
Minister of Social Welfare Sakina Itoo was also present on the occasion.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST