Srinagar, May 27 : The next time the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet meets, it will be in a remote area of the border state.
In a new initiative to reach out to people in far flung areas, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has mooted holding Cabinet meetings away from the seat of the government which shifts between Jammu and Srinagar
A new beginning will be made when the state Cabinet meets on May 30 at Karnah, a remote village in Kupwara district, 160 km from here, located near the Line of Control (LoC) in North Kashmir.
Decisions on matters relating to development works in remote areas are expected to be taken up at the meeting. “The logic behind the decision of holding Cabinet meetings in this manner was to take the government to the doorstep of people in such areas where people sometimes feel disconnected from the decision making process,” Omar told PTI today.
Karnah tehsil had borne a large brunt of Indo-Pak hostilities. Kafil-ul-Rehman of the ruling National Conference (NC) is the MLA from this assembly segment. After Karnah, there is a proposal to hold such meetings in remote villages like Gurez and Machil areas, officials said.
It is perhaps for the first time that the state cabinet meeting is being held outside the Civil Secretariat or the Chief Minister's residence, they said.
The proposal to hold a meeting in a remote area was mooted by the Chief Minister himself during the previous Cabinet meeting here last week. It was unanimously accepted and appreciated by other ministers.
The Chief Minister had toyed with the idea of holding Cabinet meetings at district headquarters but later felt it should take place in remote villages where people feel they have no voice in decision making, officials said. Besides attending cabinet meeting, ministers and senior officials will also hold deliberations to review the ongoing development work in these remote regions.
