Srinagar: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
toured the entire downtown Srinagar, the hotbed
of stone-pelting during last year’s summer unrest, to get a
first hand understanding of this city, officials said.
Chidambaram, soon after his meeting with Governor N N
Vohra on Monday, decided to take the tour of the old city and
went to Jamia, Masjid, Nowhatta, Gojwara, Qammerwari, Bemina,
Safakdal, Edigah and Khanyar areas during the night, officials
said today.
The areas visited by Chidambaram were the scene of
pitched battles between stone-pelters and law enforcing
agencies last summer which left more than 110 persons dead and
thousands others injured.
Officials said instead of travelling on his motorcade,
the Home Minister hopped into the car of Director General of
Police Kuldeep Khoda at 7.00 pm when the markets around the
city were still abuzz with activity. At one palce, the
Minister was stuck in a traffic jam.
"It was an on the spot decision and no prior information
was given to the security grid, which could have caused
inconvenience to the general public," the officials said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah confirmed the Home
Minister’s city tour on his twitter page yesterday saying no
one was aware of Chidambaram's presence till it concluded.
"Well ,actually he (Chidambaram) spent more than an hour
driving around down town Srinagar and I don't (think) anyone
even knew he was there," Omar wrote.
Responding to some tweets from his followers, the Chief
Minister said "because he didn't inconvenience (the) people,
you can't stomach that and he becomes a tourist".
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 22:33