Former chief minister of erstwhile Jammu Kashmir State and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that government employees, who were terminated from their services, should have been given a chance to defend themselves.
Speaking with reporters during the workers’ convention in Beerwah Budgam, according to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Omar stated that terminated employees should have been given the opportunity to clear their pint, even if the law grants them the same right.
“Everyone should be given the chance to fully defend themselves, but I am unable to determine whether the accusations made against these people are true or false based on the information available. You are innocent until and unless proven guilty, but sadly, there is a trend in which people are being sacked from their employment without any proof of their wrongdoing. The system will undoubtedly be reconsidered if it changes,” he said.
“Where are the 26,000 jobs claimed by the government? To put it simple, we did not witness the issuance of any list; rather, whenever the list was made public, it was manipulated, and an investigation was launched; nonetheless, as of now, there is no open recruiting procedure,” he said.
He added that “the only thing left is that we must continue to criticize the administration or voice our opposition to its poor actions.”
Asked about the NHPC projects and the frequent power outages, he said, “We have not given any power projects to NHPC. During NC’s tenure, NHPC completed some projects here but we also demanded that it should be returned to the people of Jammu Kashmir.”
“The Prime Minister needs to return NHPC projects to J&K people if he truly cares about the region,” he said—(KNO)