Omar Abdullah to vacate lavish Govt.-bungalow in Srinagar; Seeks time till end of Oct

 

The former CM of J&K Omar Abdullah will have to vacate govt accommodation on Gupkar Road where he was living luxuriously since 2010, however, as per the new rules he is no more entitled to be living there. In light of the changed rules of the entitlement in Union Territory, Omar in a letter to the J&K administration has said that he will voluntarily be vacating the Govt. accommodation but needs time till the end of October.

 

 

 

The former CM of J&K shared a letter through his social media account with a tweet that read, “I will be vacating my govt accommodation in Srinagar before the end of Oct.”. ‘Contrary to stories planted in the media last year I received no notice to vacate and have chosen to do so of my own accord,’ he added. The National Conference vice president, Omar Abdullah said he is searching for a suitable accommodation which may take 8 to 10 weeks in view of the constraints caused by the COVID pandemic.

 

 

Abdullah was a Lok Sabha member when the government accommodation in high security Gupkar area in Srinagar was provided to him first in 2002. The accommodation was later used as his official residence as he took over as chief minister of the erstwhile State from 2010 onwards.

 

Omar Abdullah lives in Bungalow No.1 on the Gupakar Road, which has all the state-of-the-art facilities. It is said that during his tenure as Chief Minister from 2009 to 2014, more than Rs 20 crore was spent on renovation of this government bungalow.

 

 

Citing changes in the rules, he added, “Consequent upon the change in entitlements for former CMs of J&K some months ago, I now find myself in an unauthorized occupation of this accommodation as no attempt has been made to regularise the allotment to me on security or any other grounds. This is a situation that is unacceptable to me,” he said.

 

Former chief ministers in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State were entitled to government accommodations either in Jammu or Srinagar but this entitlement was withdrawn by the administration earlier this year.