First schedule announced, rest to follow
Visits may continue till November end
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 8: Soon after three-day visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Government today announced revival of ‘Public Outreach Programme-III’ by 60-70 Ministers of the Central Government to the Union Territory which was started in June but suspended after few days due to security arrangements for annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji shrine.
“The Public Outreach Programme-III will start on October 10. Almost all Central Ministers are scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir during the Outreach. However, no date has been finalized as yet when the programme will conclude but the administration expects that it will last till November-end,” highly placed official sources told the Excelsior.
The Public Outreach Programme is conducted every year in Jammu and Kashmir by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs since abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. It started in January 2020. Last year i.e. in 2021, it was held in September-October. This year, it was planned in May-June and the tours had even started but the programme was halted for making fool-proof security arrangements for annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji shrine.
The Central Government today cleared the schedule of nine Union Ministers, who will visit Jammu and Kashmir during initial days. The schedule will continue to be released every week and, as per the sources, 60-70 Ministers would visit the UT during nearly two months.
The Outreach Programme will start with the visit of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution and Rural Development Department to Baramulla district from October 10-12.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary will tour South Kashmir’s Shopian district from October 12-15.
Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh will be visiting border district of Rajouri from October 19-20 while Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs John Barla will tour Ramban district from October 10-12.
Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and fisheries Sanjeev Kumar Balian too will tour South Kashmir’s Shopian district from October 11-12.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Anupriya Patel will tour parts of Ganderbal district on October 12 and 13.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbanand Sonowal will be touring Ganderbal district on October 27 and 28 while his deputy Shantanu Thakur will visit Samba district in Jammu region.
Union Minister of State for Education Subash Sarkar will be touring South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on October 14 and 16.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh had visited Kashmir when Public Outreach-III started in May.
“All 20 districts will be covered under the Public Outreach-III like Outreach-I and II. The Ministers will also visit even tehsil and blocks,” sources said.
All senior Ministers including Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and others will also be part of the Outreach-III programme, the sources said.
On their return, the Ministers will submit their reports to the PMO and MHA.
The Ministers on their return to New Delhi after visiting different parts of the Union Territory during Public Outreach-II in 2021 had submitted reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office last year just like they had done in 2020 when the Public Outreach Programme was first started. The MHA and PMO had forwarded issues raised by the people and pointed out by the Union Ministers in their reports to the Jammu and Kashmir for addressing them.
“Some of the issues which pertained to the Central Ministries were addressed by the Government of India while rest were referred to the J&K Government,” sources said.
Such tours by the Ministers had proved highly successful in the North East also resulting into redressal of public grievances to quite an extent.
In 2020, 36 Central Ministers had visited the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir from January 18-24 and toured several far off areas as well. They had submitted their recommendations to the MHA as well as PMO then and issues raised by the people were addressed by the Central and the UT Governments.
In 2021, nearly 70 Ministers were part of the Public Outreach Programme in September and October.
Besides Ministers, 13 Parliamentary Standing Committees comprising around 300 Members of Parliament (MPs) had visited the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh last year.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had also visited for a week-long tour of Ladakh and Kashmir.
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