Tangmarg, Aug 25: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday defended his government’s decision to increase electricity tariffs, saying the hike was made out of compulsion rather than choice, while assuring people that his government would not raise power prices any further during its tenure.

Addressing a gathering at Tangmarg, Abdullah also hit out at opposition parties for criticising his government over the tariff increase and questioned their record in government, particularly on development projects in the area.

“They are not wrong in saying that. We increased electricity prices. I accept that. We did not do it out of happiness. We were forced to do it,” Abdullah said.

He argued that the electricity tariff increase had come after four years, during which inflation had risen substantially across the country.

“Electricity rates were increased after four years,” he said, adding that inflation during the period had risen by “around 19 or 20 per cent”.

Abdullah contrasted his government’s decision with previous tariff increases, saying electricity rates had been raised by about 15 per cent when the previous government was in power and by around 13.5 to 14 per cent during the PDP-BJP government headed by Mehbooba Mufti.

“When these people were in government, when they increased electricity rates four years ago, they increased them by 15 per cent,” he said.

Referring to the PDP-BJP government, Abdullah said, “When the PDP-BJP coalition government was in power, whose sins we are paying for today, electricity rates were also increased when Mehbooba Mufti was chief minister.”

“Why were they silent then?” he asked.

Abdullah nevertheless acknowledged the burden imposed by the latest increase and sought to assure consumers that there would be no further hikes.

“I assure you that I will make every possible effort that, God willing, during this government’s tenure and thereafter, we will not increase electricity prices any further,” he said.

The chief minister also sought to counter criticism that his government and its representatives were not doing enough on the ground. He said MLAs from constituencies including Sangrama, Pattan, Baramulla, Beerwah and Uri were continuously working on projects and responding to demands from residents.

“There is not a single day when my honourable MLAs sitting here — whether from Sangrama, Pattan, Baramulla, Beerwah or Uri — are not moving around their areas for one project or another, some work or another, or in response to some demand from the people,” Abdullah said.

He said opposition parties had a legitimate role in criticising the government but accused them of overlooking their own record in office.

“Their job is to go to a place, close their eyes and say that nothing is happening,” he said.

Abdullah particularly questioned previous representatives over the failure to establish a fruit mandi in Tangmarg despite the land being available.

“I ask those gentlemen who have represented people here for 12, 16 or 18 years: if you had the opportunity, why did you not build a fruit mandi here?” he said.

He stressed that the land on which the mandi is being developed was already available and did not require the government to remove illegal encroachments or acquire fresh land.

“This land was there. We did not acquire this land. There was no illegal occupation on this land. We did not have to remove anyone from it. The land was already here,” Abdullah said.

He credited Farooq Shah with pursuing the project with the Lieutenant Governor and said the laying of the foundation stone represented the beginning of a long-awaited development project.

Abdullah also listed a range of priorities for the remaining tenure of his government, including drinking water, schools, healthcare, roads, fruit markets and development works through panchayats.

“All the promises we have made to the people, God willing, over the next three-and-a-quarter years, we will fulfil all those promises and then present ourselves before you,” he said.

He predicted that Gulmarg-Tangmarg would emerge as one of the most developed Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir by the end of the government’s term.

“When, after 3.5 years, you look at all the Assembly constituencies, you will find that if there is one constituency among the 90 constituencies that has witnessed the most development, the Gulmarg-Tangmarg constituency will be among them,” Abdullah said.

He also announced that work on a mini-secretariat in the area would begin this year.

“God willing, this year itself we will start work on this mini-secretariat,” the chief minister said.

Srinagar, Aug 25: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said teachers cannot be made solely responsible for determining the future of the Union Territory, arguing that the government must first improve their working conditions, school infrastructure and staffing before expecting them to shoulder greater responsibility for children’s futures.

Addressing a gathering of teachers and office-bearers of the J&K Teachers Forum, Omar said teachers already faced an expanding list of responsibilities beyond classroom teaching, including election duties, government functions and social campaigns.

“It is a fact that the future of Jammu and Kashmir is our children,” Omar said. “What will be the future of our children? You all have a very big role in that. But if we put all our responsibility on you and say that what Jammu and Kashmir will be like in the future will be decided by our teachers, then I think that would be a great injustice to you and would put excessive pressure on you.”

He said the role of teachers had become considerably more difficult with the proliferation of smartphones, social media, television channels and, increasingly, artificial intelligence.

“Today, look at what you are competing with. You are competing with phones, social media, channels and so many other things. And now there is a new thing — artificial intelligence,” he said.

Omar said AI had created a new challenge for teachers in assessing whether students were submitting their own work.

“I say, how difficult will it be for a teacher to determine whether an assignment submitted by a child, what they have written, is their own work or whether artificial intelligence helped them?” he said.

The chief minister also criticised the practice of continually assigning additional duties to teachers while their own service-related grievances remained unresolved.

“There is an August 15 function, there is a January 26 function, and the first thing we tell you is: prepare the children, organise a cultural programme, have them march past,” he said.

He also cited International Yoga Day, anti-drug campaigns and elections as examples of duties routinely assigned to teachers.

“When there is election work, we put you in booths in far-flung areas,” Omar said. 

“Whenever there is some other work, whenever we have to do something, we do not find anyone else — our eyes fall on you.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that teachers’ files did not always move with the same urgency.

“But when your issues come up, unfortunately, I have to say that your files do not move forward as quickly as the files that are moved when we have to post you somewhere else,” he said.

Omar said the government had a responsibility to resolve teachers’ grievances relating to transfers, departmental promotion committees and vacancies.

“If you have issues concerning transfers, if you have issues concerning DPCs, if you have issues concerning vacancies, or other matters, then we have to resolve those issues with the same seriousness,” he said.

“And I assure you that as long as Sakina is here and I am working with her, none of your issues will be ignored,” he added, referring to Education Minister Sakina Itoo.

The chief minister also highlighted the disparity between teachers posted in rural areas and those able to secure postings in urban schools through influence.

“Providing education in remote rural schools is not easy. Working there is difficult,” Omar said.

He said some teachers without political or social influence remained in remote schools for long periods, while those with access and influence often managed to remain in urban schools.

“Perhaps they have never even seen a rural school. They work only in city schools,” he said.

Omar also drew attention to the problem of so-called ghost schools, where students remain formally enrolled but do not regularly attend classes.

He said some students enrolled in schools primarily to appear for board examinations while spending much of their time at private tuition centres.

“The teacher comes to school. The teacher wants to do their work. But students enrol there only for paperwork,” he said.

The chief minister acknowledged continuing infrastructure deficiencies, including rented school buildings, unsafe structures and inadequate access to smart classrooms.

“We talk about smart classrooms, but how far have we been able to take smart classrooms to our children?” he said. “Smart classrooms are a distant thing; even today, in some places, we are unable to provide proper school structures.”

Omar said responsibility for those shortcomings rested with the government rather than teachers.

“But these shortcomings are not your fault. They are ours,” he said.

“Repairing infrastructure is not your responsibility; it is mine. Filling vacancies is not your job; it is mine. Strengthening your hands so that you can perform your work properly is the responsibility of me, Sakina and Nasir.”

He urged teachers, meanwhile, to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, saying the pace of change expected over the next two or three decades would exceed that witnessed in recent decades.

“We have made a lot of progress from 1947 to today,” Omar said. “But the world is changing very rapidly. The change that has taken place in the last 30, 40 or 50 years will happen much faster in the next 20 to 30 years.”

“We have to prepare our children for that,” he said, adding that students needed to be equipped to make “a positive contribution to Jammu and Kashmir”.

Omar also addressed concerns over the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), saying the requirement had not originated with the Jammu and Kashmir government and that his administration had repeatedly opposed its application.

“This is not something that we have created. We have repeatedly tried to fight against it,” he said.

He linked its applicability in Jammu and Kashmir to the post-2019 constitutional and legal changes, saying that because laws applicable across the country now apply to J&K, the TET requirement had also been extended to the region.

“Perhaps the Supreme Court’s order so far is that this has to be implemented by August 28. So, for the moment, we have time to take our campaign to the Supreme Court,” Omar said.

He said the government would continue to raise its objections before the Supreme Court.
“As Sakina has assured you, we continue to raise our voice against this here and in the Supreme Court,” he said.

Omar’s remarks placed the government’s responsibilities alongside those of teachers, arguing that better educational outcomes would depend not merely on what teachers did inside classrooms but also on whether the administration succeeded in improving the broader conditions in which they worked.

“You will be able to do it, you will succeed, only if we succeed,” he said. “If we are able to improve your conditions, if we are able to improve your infrastructure, if we are able to improve the schools, then you will be able to improve the future of the children.”

“If we fail and then tell you, ‘Now you go and fix everything,’ that will not happen,” he said.

Omar also acknowledged financial constraints facing Jammu and Kashmir, saying the government’s fiscal position was not as strong as it would like it to be.

“The financial condition of Jammu and Kashmir is not as strong as we would like it to be, so there are some restrictions,” he said.

But he maintained that those constraints could not absolve the administration of its responsibility towards teachers.

His broader message to the gathering was that teachers should be supported rather than burdened with every expectation surrounding education, social development and the future of Jammu and Kashmir.

“This is not your responsibility alone,” Omar said.

Srinagar, Aug 25: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is getting the same treatment that his government meted out to his opponents.

Recalling her first meeting with the incarcerated leader, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said she met Khan in London in 1994 and was impressed by his conviction.

“I first met Imran Khan in London with my father in 1994. His passion and conviction about bringing positive change to Pakistan deeply impressed my father. Yet when Imran Khan became Prime Minister, his government too became part of the same political culture. His opponents were pursued with the same zeal with which he is being pursued today,” Mehbooba wrote on X.

Khan was ousted from the office of Prime Minister through a no-confidence motion in March 2022. He has been in jail on charges of corruption since March 2023.

Srinagar, Aug 25: Security forces recovered arms and ammunition during a search operation in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Tuesday.

Officials said that during a search operation at Narwani area, jointly conducted by 34 RR and SOG Imam Sahib, arms and ammunition including a grenade, four mobile phones, two magazines of AK-47 rifle and four posters of HM organisation were recovered from an orchard belonging to Nazir Ahmad Wani son of Ghulam Mohammad Wani resident of Narwani.

Meanwhile, three persons have been detained in connection with the recovery as Ashiq Hussain Kumar son of Late Abdul Rashid Kumar resident of Laram Ganjipora, Kulgam, Arif Kumar son of Ghulam Rasool Kumar resident of Laram Ganjipora, Kulgam and Harris Manzoor son of Manzoor Ahmad resident of Anchidoora, Anantnag.

Further investigation has been taken up. (GNS)