Omar concerned over J-K being ranked second among corrupt states

JAMMU - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday expressed concern over his state being ranked number two in the list of most corrupt, and called on vigilance authorities to deliver results.

Addressing an annual vigilance conference in Jammu, Abdullah said: “It is in my interest to ensure that corruption, theft, this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Similar, would be perhaps the case in consumer affairs and public distribution and other departments. We will have to think out of the box.”

“It’s no longer possible to go along the greater path and say, yes, what we are doing, we will continue to deliver the results, because it is not delivering the results. Today, we are number two, god forbid we will reach the pinnacle of the states that are corrupt,” he added.

Abdullah added that he could not possibly take stock of all issues in the state, and said he needed help from other departments as well.

“I, sitting in one department, couldn’t possibly know what is happening in another department. More often than not even, where I am sitting, I hear whispers of what is going around. Unfortunately, those whispers are seldom ever accompanied by actionable intelligence or proof,” said Abdullah.

Abdullah’s statement comes at a time when the Central Government at the Centre is battling several issues of corruption including that of black money being stashed away in foreign banks and the 2G-spectrum scam. (ANI)