Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 17 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that Northeast, Jammu & Kashmir and the Hill States are on the Modi government’s priority. He said, the message should go out loud and clear that these territories would continue to receive the same amount of attention even in the second term of the Modi government, as they had received in the first term.
Addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony and inauguration of multiple National Highway projects in Manipur which were formally launched by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in the presence of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, soon after the present government came in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the peripheral States and territories will be receiving their due attention so that they are brought up at par with other developed regions of the country. To reiterate this point, Prime Minister Modi had himself visited Northeast around 40 times in the last six years, which is more than the total number of visits made by several Prime Ministers in the past.
As far as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is concerned, in the first term of the Modi government itself, Nitin Gadkari had in one go announced for Northeast, road and bridge projects worth several thousand crores. The projects accomplished in the first term of the Modi government include the famous Bhupen Hazarika Bridge.
At the same time, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that it is the Modi government which initiated the process of creating inland border ways for alternative and cost-effective connectivity.
As far as Jammu & Kashmir is concerned, said Dr Jitendra Singh, several monumental road and bridge projects had been accomplished in the last six years. These, he said, include Asia’s biggest state-of-the-art Nashri-Chenani Tunnel which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is the first – ever project of its kind in India to be named after Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, in his own Lok Sabha constituency, he is witness to several road projects for which there was a public demand for several years. These include Kidiyan-Gandyal Bridge, also and new National Highways like Chenani-Marmat-Sudhmahadev and Lakhanpur-Basohli Bhaderwah.
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