‘UT going through transition phase post Art 370 abrogation’
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, June 6: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, today stated that right people will take a call on holding Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time when they are called in to do so.
He was in the town to highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi Government in its 9 years of rule at the Centre.
“Jammu and Kashmir has been going through a phase of transition post abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A. The UT has been coming out of a prolonged insurgency and there has been a considerable improvement in the law and order situation here.
“Now the right people will take a call on holding the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time when they are called in to do so,” the Union Minister said while replying to a media query about the timeline of holding Assembly polls in the UT.
Puri said that post August 5, 2019, the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir has been gradually changing at a faster pace.
“The children from Jammu and Kashmir have now been qualifying the National level competitions and are getting able to participate in the economic resurgence of this region.”
He said if the security situation permits, the investment will automatically start coming to the Union Territory.
Referring to the first-ever real estate summit conducted in Jammu by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry in December 2021, wherein the J&K Government signed 39 MoUs worth Rs 18,300 crores with the real estate investors, the Union Minister said that a similar summit would be held in Srinagar shortly.
“People will soon start realising the investment potential of Jammu and Kashmir as I have been seeing a big difference in the UT now,” said Puri.
Replying another query about the status of the Bathinda-Jammu Tawi Gas Pipeline Project, the Union Minister said that Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has been evaluating the technical bids of the interested parties to lay the pipeline between the twin cities as a technical survey already been completed.
“A final decision on this project would be taken in the month of June, 2023, itself,” he said.
To another question about the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “this is a different issue and we will deal it the way it is being dealt with in other parts of the country like New Delhi.”
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Asked about the resentment in students from Jammu and Kashmir’s far off areas related to the conduct of their examinations in Mohali and Chandigarh by the National Testing Agency (NTA), Puri said: “I am not the right person to answer this question.”
Meanwhile, highlighting the achievements of the 9 years of the Narendra Modi Government in Jammu and Kashmir in particular, the Union Minister said that Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel, which is the longest road tunnel in the country, has reduced the travel time by several hours while two AIIMs have been constructed in the either regions of the UT for providing better healthcare to the people.
He said so far, the Government has constructed 1500 kilometres of roads, 100 bridges, 10 new hospitals, and 100 new clinics in Jammu Lok Sabha Constituency.
Through Tourism Sector schemes, he said, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Dal Lake, and Shri Amarnath Shrines are being upgraded and having done so, 10,000 people from Jammu Lok Sabha Constituency have been provided with the employment opportunities.
The schools and colleges in the UT in general and Jammu Lok Sabha constituency in particular are also being upgraded, he added.
Highlighting the achievements of the Union Government, he said, post COVID-situation, the BJP Government has been giving dry ration to 8 crore people under the PM Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana while as Rs 12 crore households got tap water, Rs 3 crore homes constructed under PMAY, Rs 12 crore toilets constructed under Swachh Bharat, 36 lakh street vendors got loans through Swanidhi Yojana, Rs 39.65 crore under Mudra Yojana,
Rs 20 crore cash transferred to females, and Rs 7351 crore to SC/ST beneficiaries.
He also listed various other achievements of the Government including issuance of Ayushman health cards to beneficiaries, procurement of oilseeds and pulses at MSP, and increase in fertiliser subsidy by 500 percent.
Puri was accompanied by MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, J&K BJP co-incharge Ashish Sood, former Ministers Dr Devinder Kumar Manyal and Priya Sethi, and former MLC Vivodh Gupta during the press conference in Jammu.
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