Srinagar, Oct. 30 -- Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday announced a series of changes in spending the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) scheme, aimed at making it more "flexible and beneficial" to local development needs in the constituencies. The changes include one-time relaxation, permitting utilisation of up to Rs.50 lakh from CDF for the construction and repair of houses for calamity-affected families, during the current and next financial year (2025-26 and 2026-27). Speaking during the Zero Hour of the ongoing autumn session of the J&K legislative assembly, the CM said they have been reviewing the schemes for the past few months to see where they can make it better. He said that some changes have been brought which have been approved by the government. He said that work allotment changing have, for the time being, kept pending. Under the revised guidelines, several key reforms have been introduced. "The ceiling of Rs.50 lakh earlier imposed on power development works has been withdrawn, allowing MLAs to recommend projects in this sector without any upper limit. Similarly, the Rs.10 lakh cap on installation of solar energy light systems has been removed," he said. In the public health engineering (PHE) sector, the purchase of mobile water tankers and provision of individual household connections have been made permissible. "In light of the recent devastating floods and recognising the role of MLAs in facilitating the construction and repair of houses a one-time relaxation has been given permitting utilisation of up to Rs.50 lakh from CDF for the construction and repair of houses for calamity-affected families during the current and next financial year (2025-26 and 2026-27)," he said. In another major reform, the earlier clause requiring MLAs to utilise at least 80% of funds in a financial year-failing which next year's release was withheld-has been deleted to enhance operational flexibility. The revised guidelines will also allow channelling up to Rs.20 lakh under the CDF for the upgradation of houses belonging to tribal and BPL families. This assistance will be provided on a rolling basis, aligned with the provisions of PMAY, and governed by stringent verification and scrutiny norms to ensure transparency and accountability. Jammu and Kashmir assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Wednesday after Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Kishtwar, Shagun Parihar, alleged that her constituency was ignored in road infrastructure development saying that because "Hindu, people of nationalistic mentality" were living there. Speaking during the zero hour, Parihar said that even after 78 years of independence Kishtwar was being neglected. "More than 70% of its population still lives in the mountains. It is unfortunate that even the benefit of central schemes is not reaching people in Kishtwar," she said. She showed a photo saying if people have to go to hospital in this area then they will have to be taken in palkis. "People didn't get roads under PMGSY here. I will request the minister in the current government to set a timeframe for the completion of this road. One of our roads from Chattar to Oli is dropped (from works) every time because this is a Hindu populated area, people of nationalist mentality (Rashtrawadi soonch) live here," she alleged. Her utterances triggered uproad from ruling party MLAs and also from Kashmir opposition. "The BJP legislator should refrain from making such divisive statements," minister Javed Dar said. Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary said that people of all religions are nationalists. Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather urged Parihar, the first time MLA, to use caution while speaking in the House. "Use words carefully and with intelligence . You have to achieve big goals. Focus on hard work and constructive discussion ,"he said....