Former mayor, deputy mayor criticise Omar for travelling Ganderbal, ‘abandoning’ central command

Former city mayor and former Apni Party leader Junaid Azim Mattu criticised J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah for “abandoning” the central command and travelling to his home constituency Ganderbal.

J&K CM on Saturday morning drove to Ganderbal to chair review meeting with the all DC’s of Kashmir.

“Eventually the CM goes the biscuit-throwing way of 2014. Abandons the central command for dealing with snow vagaries across Kashmir and rushes to his assembly constituency of Ganderbal instead. Inept leadership inspired by the mediocrity that tragically surrounds him now,’ former City Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattu wrote on X.

He also targeted roads and building minister and deputy chief minister Surinder Choudhary for not setting up control room.

“Why didn’t the minister for R&B supervise the setting up of a joint control room for snow-clearance and designation of zonal officers across the valley? Why wasn’t a coordination mechanism set up between R&B, SMC and MED — as was done every year in the past?,” Mattu said in another message on X.

He also compared action taken by government when he was the city mayor.

“The people are realising dear — the stark contrast between what we did for 5 years and what these corrupt and incompetent people are doing now. Very pained to see how people have been left at the mercy of God,” Mattu further wrote on X.

Former Mayor Sheikh Imran said previous regimes performed better than present government.

“During our tenure, efficient micro-planning ensured timely snow clearance for every area setting a benchmark for public service. Today-sadly it has devolved into mere selfie sessions and photo ops in the snow—a stark and disappointing downgrade. Using business rules as an excuse for every inaction while offering nothing in return seems to have become a habit—and it’s entirely unacceptable,” Imran wrote on X.