Devika project to be completed in 3 months
India, US may discuss terror during PM’s visit
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 17: Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri today said abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India was a watershed moment in the history which led to peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Article 370 and 35A was a temporary measure and when it was removed it led to massive development works in Jammu and Kashmir,” Puri told reporters in Udhampur on the sidelines of a function.
Puri is on a three-day visit of Jammu. Today, he visited Udhampur and attended a series of functions.
Asserting that it was his sixth visit to Jammu and Kashmir in the past couple of years, Puri said a Real Estate Summit was also held here and tourist footfall has gone up tremendously
“We are witness to massive footfall of tourists, setting up of IIIM, AIIMS, hospitals and other educational institutions in Jammu and Kashmir,” Puri said.
He said few works are pending due to some obstacles but they are being taken care of to further speed up the development.
“The relations with the USA have witnessed a lot of improvement (under Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Many issues will come under discussion (during Modi’s visit). The issues related to terrorism generally come up for discussion and if there is international cooperation against terrorism, it will definitely benefit many of our States,” Puri said.
On the objections raised by Congress over the renaming of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, he said how many Prime Ministers the country has seen since 1947 post independence and all of them have made a great contribution to the nation.
“We had Pandit (Jawahar Lal Nehru) who had a lot of contributions followed by Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira (Gandhi), P V Narasimha Rao JI, Manmohan Singh. I am surprised over the naming of the Centre on just one Prime Minister,” he said.
The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society housed in Teen Murti Bhavan premises here has been renamed by the Government as Prime Ministers’ Museum and Library Society, prompting sharp reactions from the Congress which termed it as a “petty act”.
“What one can say about the opposition? One of the youth leaders from the camp (AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi) went to London and said there are 38 crore Indians who are hungry. The Prime Minister is providing free dry ration to 80 crore people since the outbreak of the (Coronavirus) pandemic. They are making irresponsible statements and why are you giving oxygen to it,” he said.
“The development works are happening across the country. When Modi took over in 2014, it was said that the northeastern region is the most neglected but he made sure that every Minister visits the region once in a month to ensure its development,” the Union Minister said.
Puri said the historic Devika river project, costing Rs 190 crore will be completed within the next three months.
“This is North India’s first river rejuvenation project which will offer a unique destination both for pilgrims and tourists, in addition to being a state-of-the-art cremation centre,” he said.
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