Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday inaugurated a ‘Waste to Wonder’ flower garden near Polo View in Srinagar, highlighting the need to repurpose discarded items and preserve green spaces amid rapid urban expansion.
Speaking at the inauguration, the chief minister said the initiative demonstrates how waste materials can be creatively reused to enhance public spaces.
“If you walk around and look here, you will see very peculiar items which you could not have imagined would be used in a park; somewhere a tractor, a scooter, an old Jeep, an Ambassador car, and even an old refrigerator has been used where plants have been grown inside it to decorate it,” Abdullah said.
He said the core message from the Department of Floriculture to the public is to think twice before discarding household items. “Because these days, as we have all seen, solid waste management and the disposal of plastic waste have become very major issues in our cities as well as in rural areas,” he said.
Abdullah suggested that officials from the Floriculture Department visit Chandigarh to study the famous Rock Garden made from waste. “If we can recreate that here to some extent, I believe that too will be a major attraction for tourism,” he added.
Addressing concerns over Kashmir’s shrinking green spaces due to urban development, Abdullah said that population growth places immense pressure on land resources.
“Everyone wants to build their own house; everyone wants to progress. After progressing, people want to expand the plot their house is built on. Our effort is to balance both things,” he said.
“We cannot tell people not to build houses, but we certainly tell them to use as little land as possible. Because once land is lost, we cannot bring it back. We can generate more electricity, produce water, and do many things, but once land is gone, it is gone; we cannot bring it back,” the chief minister cautioned, stressing that development must take place alongside the preservation of green spaces.
‘Rahul doing his job as LoP’
Srinagar: Defending Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive posture against the ruling dispensation, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday asserted that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is simply fulfilling his constitutional duty by holding the government accountable.
Talking to reporters after inaugurating a ‘waste to wonder’ themed garden near Polo View, Abdullah said, “If the Leader of the Opposition does not oppose, what good is he?”
When asked questions about Gandhi’s repeated protests, he took a dig at the media for applying double standards when evaluating opposition leaders and pointed out that while journalists appear to enjoy the “needless” questioning raised by the Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Sunil Sharma, they routinely question Gandhi’s motives for mounting similar challenges against the Central government.
“I haven’t heard you ask the Leader of the Opposition in J-K why he keeps asking the same questions repeatedly. When Mr Sharma does it, you enjoy it; but when Rahul Gandhi does it, you ask, ‘Why is Rahul Gandhi doing this?’
“You cannot weigh opposition leaders by different standards like this. Rahul Gandhi is simply doing what the country expects of him,” Abdullah said.
He stressed that the primary function of an opposition leader is to demand answers from those in power and expressed hope that Gandhi would continue to press the administration on key national issues.
“The job of the Leader of the Opposition is to hold the government accountable. Rahul Gandhi is doing just that, and I hope he continues to do so, because that is precisely the role of the opposition,” he added.
Referring to alleged remarks by Sharma concerning the spread of Islam in the region, the chief minister remarked that his government’s administration must be performing exceptionally well if the state opposition leader could find no governance issues to criticise and had instead resorted to giving discourses on religious history.
“I will only say this: our government’s performance must be remarkably good, given that the Leader of the Opposition found nothing to criticise about this administration. Now, he is shedding light on how Islam originated in Jammu and Kashmir. I consider this our success,” Abdullah said.
However, he asserted that Sharma should refrain from commenting on religious affairs.
“He should refrain from making too many comments on religious matters. We have witnessed force too — what happened to the Babri Masjid? Was that not force? What the Muslims across the country are facing today, what is that?
“So, whatever the circumstances are, he should not play with the religious sentiments of the people. He is the leader of the opposition, not a religious leader. He should leave religious matters to religious leaders and confine his remarks to politics,” the chief minister added.
To a question about the death of a minor girl in Kishtwar, the chief minister expressed hope of a swift investigation to bring the guilty to justice.
“I am aware. It is very sorrowful. We hope the administration, especially law enforcement, will make swift progress, complete the entire investigation in a short timeframe, and bring whoever is found guilty to justice,” Abdullah said.
