Srinagar- The pressure to deliver on the promises has been mounting for the ruling regime in Jammu and Kashmir as the National Conference (NC) government completed one year in office on Wednesday, while all the promises from one lakh jobs to free units of electricity and 12 gas cylinders remain unfulfilled.

On October 16, 2024, the first government in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, led by Omar Abdullah, assumed office here after the NC-Congress alliance secured an absolute majority in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, winning 48 seats. NC carried the alliance to victory by winning 42 seats, while Congress could win only six seats.

The mood across Jammu and Kashmir is a mix of cautious hope and growing impatience.

Riding a wave of optimism, the NC swept to power last year, pledging 12 flagship promises made on the party's manifesto ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections.

Yet, as the government marks its first anniversary, many of those promises remain in the realm of rhetoric.

The ruling regime after taking over has kept its promise so far only on passing the resolution on statehood restoration in the first Assembly Session while the other pledges like free 200 units of electricity, 12 gas cylinders to economically weaker sections, Rs 5,000 per month to women belonging to EWS, establishing a medical trust to fight against serious diseases like cancer, reinstating free education up to the university level have remained unfulfilled.

The NC had also promised a comprehensive job package for youth, and redrawing the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and the Transaction of Business of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Rules, 2019 have also been oversighted so far.

For many, the past 12 months have felt more like a year of waiting than one of transformation.

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