In what could be widely seen as surrender in the National Conference’s key constituency of Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday agreed to both the cardinal demands of the coalition partner Congress on creation of new administrative units in Jammu and Kashmir.
Contrary to Mr. Abdullah’s assertions that the creation of the new units would be as per the Mushtaq Ganai Committee report and the Bloeria Committee guidelines, the State Cabinet approved the creation of 670 units — 446 over and above the 224 recommended by retired IAS officer Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai. “Quite a larger number of the new units, mostly in Jammu and Ladakh regions, are being created in violation of the delimitation guidelines set up by the panel of retired Chief Secretary S.S. Bloeria,” official sources said.
Mr. Abdullah called it a “historic decision” and said that all 659 new creations had been unanimously approved.
However, official documents in the possession of The Hindu put the number at 670 — 224 recommended by Ganai Committee and 446 additionally recommended by the CSC.
