Srinagar, Oct 30 (HS): Altaf Ahmad Wani, alias Altaf Kaloo, was welcomed with slogans by a large number of National Conference (NC) workers on Friday, when he reached his home district of Anantnag for the first time after being sworn in as a minister. Addressing the reception, Kaloo said the Omar Abdullah-led government is committed to fulfilling all the promises it made to the people, and that no sacrifice by the people will be allowed to go in vain.

Thanking the people who had come from different areas, he said: “It has been only four days since I took charge. In the coming days, we will establish contact with all the departments concerned so that people’s work gets done.”

Addressing the workers and the public, he said: “Remember one thing: I am now responsible not for one Assembly seat but for all 90 Assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir. So you will now have to be patient. We will make every effort to resolve all the problems of the people. I began my political journey at the grassroots, and I know what difficulties people face.” He said the promises Omar Abdullah has made to the people will certainly be fulfilled.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, Kaloo first thanked the party leadership, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, on behalf of the people and himself, for encouraging the people of south Kashmir. “People are very happy. You can see the huge crowd. You will see much more when we visit different areas,” he said. He said people have faith in him, hope and trust.

On his departments, he said he has not yet been able to fully review the Forest, Ecology, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj departments. “But there are very good, dedicated and honest officers in these departments, from the bottom to the top. God willing, they will have my full cooperation, so that people are happy with these departments,” he said.

Asked about the party leadership, he said the party has entrusted him with a big responsibility for the whole of Jammu and Kashmir. “Whether it is Jammu or Kashmir, God willing, we will take everyone along and go to every constituency and every district, and we will not sit idle. The leadership has given us a very difficult task, and God willing, we will live up to the trust it has placed in us,” he said. Asked whether the party is united, he said the party is strong and “we are all united.”

On the challenges of being a minister in a Union Territory, he said there is considerable difference between a Union Territory and a state, and the challenge is there, but he will try to run the departments in a friendly atmosphere so that people’s work gets done.

Asked about the announcement by NC Lok Sabha member Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi that he would resign from the party and the Lok Sabha on November 3, Kaloo said: “November 3 has not come yet. We will not let him go.”

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Hindusthan Samachar / Zahoor Hussain Bhat