Uproar in Assembly over crores spent on chartered flights; MLAs seek probe

Adil Akhzer

Srinagar, March 20

As the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Thursday witnessed an uproar after a legislator revealed that Rs 15 crore had been spent on chartered flights in the Union Territory over the past few years, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah questioned why the UT’s own plane was kept in the open sun and termed it as “negligence”.

MLA Shopian Shabir Ahmad Kullay, who was participating in the discussion on the demands for grants for the departments under the Chief Minister, revealed the figures he received in response to the cut motion by the authorities.

As Kullay revealed the figures in the House, he raised concerns about the huge money spent on the flights and on guests in J-K. He demanded that a House committee be formed to probe into the matter. He said, “We need to probe how such state exchequer funds were spent.”

Kullay was supported by NC and Congress legislators who rose from their seats and also demanded a House committee be formed into the matter. The issue led to uproar in the House and also led to a verbal duel between the NC legislators and BJP MLAs.

Congress MLA Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat said the issue is related to public money and was within the jurisdiction of the Legislative Assembly. NC MLA Tanvir Sadiq also sought the constitution of a House committee.

BJP MLA Balwant Mankotia said that Chief Minister had full authority, but asked the treasury bench not to address the galleries.

Later, Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather intervened in the matter and said CM Omar Abdullah would address the concerns during his reply.

Complaining about the Aviation Department, Omar said he was not ready to accept that J&K didn’t have a pilot which was the reason the plane was not used.

“We have used these chartered planes when our plane was not in use,” he said, adding the authorities could have hired a pilot.

“But the plane, which was purchased by Jammu and Kashmir with the taxpayers’ money, was kept at the Jammu airport out in the open for five years...it is complete negligence. What was the need to keep it like this out in the sun?” he said.

He said the plane could have been parked in a hangar at Srinagar airport if the plane was not in use.

“Today, we don’t know how much money we will have to spend to make the plane airworthy,” he said.

Omar said it is not the right use of public money. “Please accept that a mistake has been made,” said Omar, adding that the present government has to rectify the mistake.