Cabinet condemns attack on Farooq Abdullah

Srinagar, Mar 13: The Cabinet on Friday condemned the assassination attempt on former chief minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also approved 18 percent hike in the passenger vehicle far.

It alo approved the enhancement in TA and DA besides medical allowances of ministers, MLAs, Speaker of Legislative Assembly, and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) as well.

“The cabinet strongly condemned the attack on the NC president in Jammu. Thorough investigations were demanded into this assassination attempt on Farooq Abdullah in Jammu earlier this week,” sources told Greater Kashmir.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was attended by ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, Sakina Itoo, Javed Rana, Javaid Ahmad Dar, and Satish Sharma.

Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo was also present in the meeting.

The officials said that 18 percent hike in the passenger vehicle fare was also approved by the cabinet.

“This was the long pending demand of transporters for five years. They were demanding a 50 percent hike in fare but we have made 18 percent,” an official said.

He said the government was pressing 200 more buses on roads in addition to already available buses.

“The government earlier constituted a  committee which is presided by the Principal Secretary Finance Department. The committee approved 18 percent hike in fare as there has been no revision in the bus fare since 2021,” the official said.

He said the cabinet endorsed that J&K has enough stock of LPG available and urged people not to panic.

“People should cooperate. The government has formed teams to check any possible black marketing,” the official said.

The officials said besides these decisions, a few policy proposals were also taken up in the cabinet.

“Few proposals of Housing and Urban Development Department and other policy proposals were also taken up,” he said.

The official said the government has enough stock of LPG, petrol, and diesel available.

“There must be some petrol pump owners who have kept their outlets closed. They must be expecting hike in price,” he said.

The official said that the chief minister was expected to convene a meeting regarding essential commodities in the coming days.

“The Union Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry and the Union Secretary have arrived in Kashmir. We have a conference on Saturday at SKICC and after that the CM is likely to convene a meeting on essential commodities,” the official said.

According to officials, the cabinet also gave its approval to the creation of 136 faculty posts – 27 Professors and 109 Associate Professors in Government Medical College Srinagar and Government Medical College Jammu.

The official said the cabinet has also given its consent for Ladakh to use the J&K Real Estate Appellate Tribunal as a joint Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.