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Kashmir’s youth will not suffer like their parents & grandparents: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who celebrated the Panchayat Raj Day at Palli gram panchayat in Samba, said the youth of J&K will get employment opportunities through overall development. This was the PM’s first visit to the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reached out to the youth in the Valley, assuring them that they will not suffer like their parents and grandparents, as he laid the foundation of multiple development projects worth over ₹20,000 crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi, who celebrated the Panchayat Raj Day at Palli gram panchayat in Samba, said the youth of J&K will get employment opportunities through overall development. This was the PM’s first visit to the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The PM, in his 40-minute-long speech, focused on the “rapid transformation of J&K since revocation of the special status”. He said the Centre’s move empowered the people of J&K, which was evident from “successful” conduct of panchayat elections. “For the first time, peaceful three-tier panchayat elections were held and today people are realising their dreams,” he said.
Addressing a crowd of over one lakh people, including 30,000 panchayat members of the Union Territory, on National Panchayati Raj Diwas, the PM stressed on “bridging gaps” and said: “When I talk about one India and prosperous India, I also mean improving connectivity, be it of heart or of culture and languages.”
As panchayat members from across the country joined the address virtually, the PM said: “It is a symbol of change that this year Panchayati Raj Day is being celebrated in J&K. It is a matter of great pride that I am addressing the PRIs across the country from J&K when democracy has reached the grassroots level here.”
Referring to the process of inclusion of J&K in the nation’s development journey, Modi said more than 175 central laws have become applicable in the Union Territory.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this have been the women, poor and deprived sections of the area… Today sons and daughters of every community are able to fulfill their dreams. Those who did not get the benefit of reservation are also getting it now,” he said.
He also suggested to the panchayats to rope in women in the water conservation programme under Amrit Sarovar Mission, which is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country by August 15, 2023.
Stressing that the new projects, including the opening of the Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel to establish all-weather connectivity between the two regions of the Union Territory, will give new impetus to development, Modi said: “ ₹38,000 crore of private investment has been received in J&K in two years as compared to ₹17,000 crores in last seven decades.”
The 8.45-km Banihal-Qazigund tunnel will reduce the travel time between Jammu and Srinagar by two hours.
The PM also laid the stones of 850MW Ratle and 540MW Kwar hydel projects, to come up on the Chenab at a combined cost of about ₹10,000 crore. He said the completion of the two projects in the next two years will not only provide sufficient electricity to J&K, but it will become a source of income generation.
Among other projects, the PM laid foundation stone of three road packages of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, being built at a cost of over ₹7,500 crore.
