Srinagar, Mar 13 (KNS): A day after the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti dropped Haseeb Drabu from the council of ministers over a controversial remarks, Minister for Education Altaf Bukhari who on Tuesday was assigned additional charge of the finance minister, said that Jammu and Kashmir finance department was run by a very competent man and that he will continue the all good work which was done by Haseeb Drabu.
“The Finance department was run by very competent man. I will continue the all good work which was done by Haseeb Drabu,” Bukhari told KNS soon after he was assigned the charge of the finance minister.
He said that his priority would be that the Finance department work well for the betterment of government and the people of the state. “I will hold the review of department to understand the work,” he maintained.
When asked that liabilities have been accumulated in the various government departments, Bukhari asserted that liabilities are part of developmental issues. “Liabilities are part of development. If there is liability it means something has been done,” he maintained.
The minister said that nothing will be changed in the regularization process of daily rated workers. “It was government’s reformation process. I will look into the issue and assure you that nothing will be changed in the policy,” he said.
Altaf Bukhari has been given the additional charge of finance department. Though earlier, Mehbooba Mufti had announced to keep the finance ministry under her own command, but on Tuesday the order issued by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti reads, “In pursuance of Rule 5 of Jammu and Kashmir government Business rules and as an interim measure, I Mehbooba Mufti, do hereby assign the charge of the departments of the Finance, Labour and Employment to Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari in addition to the government business already assigned to him,”
It is to mention here that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Monday dropped Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu from the council of ministers after he failed to retract his statement that J&K was not a political issue.
Drabu had framed the Agenda of Alliance (AoA), the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when PDP and BJP came together to form the government led by PDP founder Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in March 2015.
Speaking at an event themed ‘Kashmir: The Way Forward' at New Delhi, Drabu was quoted by media saying that people need to introspect over nature and origins of situation in the state and how it can be resolved. “Don't see J&K as a conflict state and a political issue, it is a society which has social issues right now. We are trying to find our own space and we are going through a process which many other countries are also going through,” Drabu was quoted.
After dropping Haseeb Drabu from the finance ministry, the PDP has already said that it will take decision whether he (Drabu) will be part of the party in the coming days. (KNS)