PM to visit Srinagar, Leh too
Jammu: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and architect of the erstwhile PDP-BJP alliance, said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to visit J&K on February 3 to set the ball rolling for some landmark developmental projects, some of which will be inaugurated by the PM in all three regions of the state.
While the prime minister will lay the foundation stone for and inaugurate projects worth nearly Rs 35,000 crore in Jammu region, projects worth Rs 9,000 crore will be taken up or commissioned in Kashmir during his visit, Madhav said, “It is a great boost for Jammu region,” he said.
According to sources, the security establishment has already been brief by the officials of the Governor’s administration about the PM’s visit to Srinagar and Jammu, as was reported by Brighter Kashmir earlier this month, and a plan has been chalked out to make the visit to the state incident-free.
Source said the prime minister will, if the weather allows, visit Jammu after which he will visit Srinagar and later fly to Leh. Madhav said the PM will address a mega rally in Jammu.
“We are expecting over two lakh people to turn up and listen to the Prime Minister,” Madhav said. “The PM will lay the foundation stone for AIIMS, IIM, IIT, Jammu-Akhnoor road, Shahpur-Kandi road, Sunderbani college and IIMC in Jammu during his visit.”
Officials said the prime minister will also inaugurate an engineering college in Kathua and the Jammu ropeway project. On the issue of the developmental projects facing unnecessary delays in sanction, the BJP general secretary said: “We took up many developmental projects as part of the previous government, like AIIMS. It was due to our efforts that we brought one AIIMS for Jammu even when in rest of the country only one AIIMS was given to each state.”
Seeking to blame his party’s erstwhile coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party, in Jammu and Kashmir, Madhav said a number of projects were delayed for which he held the PDP responsible. He however didn’t specify those reasons.
“We undertook many projects like this. However, the coalition partner used to slow down the process, otherwise it could have been done earlier,” he said.
He said the BJP will continue its efforts to ensure all-round development in the three regions of the state. The party was also making efforts to ensure reservation for the Pahari speaking people and divisional status for the region of Ladakh, Madhav said.
“We are making a demand to the governor administration to grant reservation to the Pahari people, who are mostly residing in Jammu, and the divisional status to Ladakh before the prime minister’s visit to the state,” he said.
He asked party leaders and workers to work hard for to make Modi’s visit successful.
The visit of the PM to J&K comes amid heightening tensions in the Valley and an escalation at the Line of Control and International Border where the two armies have been targeting each others’ locations and even civilians population with greater intensity this year.
