Jammu — Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said his government is working with the Centre on a time frame for the restoration of statehood to the Union Territory.
Talking to reporters here after presenting his maiden budget in the legislative assembly earlier in the day, he said a Union Territory with an assembly is the “worst form of government”.
“We are working on a time frame, but I do not think it is appropriate for me to talk about it at this point in time. Needless to say that it is work in progress,” Abdullah said at a press conference.
He was responding to a question about his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman after assuming power in Jammu and Kashmir in October last year and whether any time frame was given to him for the restoration of statehood.
Abdullah said a Union Territory with an assembly is the worst form of government in the country.
“I had no hesitation in saying this earlier, and I am saying it again that there should be only two systems in this country — either you have a UT without assembly or you have a state. A UT is an area too small to be a state, and that criterion does not apply to J&K,” he said.
Asked whether he is satisfied with the funds allocated to Jammu and Kashmir by the central government, the chief minister said he is extremely grateful for what has been given.
“I do not want to sound ungrateful by saying that we should have got more. Whatever we get, we will utilise, and what we’ve got so far, we are thankful for it,” he said.
Responding to a question about the long pending demand of the regularisation of daily wagers, need-based workers and other similar categories of workers, he said, “We have to do something for them.”
“First, we have to decide their numbers because their number varies. We do not have a single number anywhere, and when we have that number, we can form a policy,” he said.
