STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has withdrawn excess security cover of 20 former ministers and lawmakers mostly belonging to two parties — National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — during a security audit, sources told a national news agency.
According to sources, it was found during the audit that many of them were enjoying security cover more than they were entitled to. The political leaders will get security cover as per defined category (X, Y and Z).
Top National Conference leaders, including Ali Mohammad Sagar and former Law Minister Saifullah Mir, and PDP leader Sartaj Madni, maternal uncle of party chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, are among those whose excess security cover has been withdrawn.
Earlier, the government had served a notice to Mehbooba Mufti asking her to vacate her plush Fairview government bungalow in Srinagar. Another former chief minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah vacated his official bungalow on Gupkar Road in 2020, even before the administration issued an eviction notice to him.
The change in entitlements for former chief ministers in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 and the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories meant that they could not continue to live in the official residences provided to them in the erstwhile state.
