Roadmap ahead on agenda of Centre, UT
Will meet more Central functionaries
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 7: Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Girish Chandra Murmu today met President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and was understood to have discussed with them the situation prevailing in the newly created UT and roadmap ahead.
Offices of the President of India, the Vice President and the Prime Minister, in separate tweets, released photographs of Murmu’s meetings with them but gave no details on nature of the discussions.
The first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was also scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and some other senior functionaries of the Central Government before returning to Jammu, the winter capital of the State. He had left for the Union capital yesterday.
Sources said Murmu was reported to have briefed the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister on situation prevailing in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir especially the Valley and steps being taken by the administration for restoration of complete normalcy there, which has been affected since August 5 when the Central Government had scrapped special Constitutional provisions of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Though there was no official word by the Union Territory administration on the meetings the Lieutenant Governor had with Kovind, Naidu and Modi, sources said tackling militancy, maintaining law and order situation in Kashmir, keeping infiltration of militants well under control, winter preparedness of the administration and finances were some of the major subjects which required discussions with the Central Government.
Sources said the Central Government functionaries were of the view that after three months of the Government decisions on Jammu and Kashmir, the Valley was nearly normal though some miscreants and militants at the behest of “external forces” were still trying to instigate the people to keep the pot boiling.
However, the Union Territory administration has taken all steps to ensure complete peace in the Valley and smooth functioning of all institutions. The administration was confident that gradually the complete normalcy will return to Kashmir.
“Tackling militancy and bringing tourists back were said to be the major areas of focus of the administration among others,” sources pointed out and said security forces were working on eliminating more number of militants in Kashmir during winters as they will come down to plains from hills where they take shelter in summer.
While some tourists have returned to Kashmir, the administration was of the view that it would take some more time to make tourists believe that the Valley was completely safe for them and restoration of mobile Internet services could be one of the steps in this direction. However, according to sources, restoration of Internet would take time as the authorities don’t want to take any chance.
Murmu had taken oath as first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, the day two UTs had come into effect. RK Mathur was sworn-in as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh UT.
Prior to Murmu’s meeting with the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister, Mathur had also called on them in New Delhi two days after taking oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.
Only yesterday, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was reported to have given nod to North East-type package for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
While the package was expected to be unveiled in next couple of days, sources said some of the Central projects would get 100 percent funding in the two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on the pattern of eight North Eastern States.
“The flagship programmes of the Central Government will get top priority in the two newly created Union Territories after bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir,” they said.
According to them, every Union Minister or their Secretaries will tour the Union Territories quite frequently to monitor progress on developmental projects of their Ministries to ensure that they don’t miss the timelines.
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