Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 6: Taking a dig at previous UPA at Centre and Coalition Government in the State, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today accused the previous regime of halting all the PMGSY road projects in the State initiated during the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government.
Addressing the BJP District Working Committee meeting here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said it was only after the Narendra Modi Government came to power at Centre that it issued directives of completing all such roads in a time frame period.
The Union Minister said that Narendra Modi Government has given main thrust on development and welfare of people of the country and record number of projects were launched throughout the country for this purpose.
He congratulated Kathua for having received Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s exclusive compliment for being the top most district of the country in having implemented the flagship Central Government scheme of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the party follows the tradition of holding an Executive Committee meeting after every three months with the purpose is to introspect on the important events and activities of the past 12 weeks as well as to draw a road map for the near future. To that extent, he said, the most distinctive landmark between the last Executive Meeting and the present Executive Meeting is that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popular radio broadcast “Mann Ki Baat” edition of February, he devoted full one-and-a-half minute to speak about Kathua. This is not a small achievement, he added.
With three years of his tenure as Member of Parliament from this Lok Sabha Constituency going to be complete this month, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he had vindicated his promise of ensuring that Kathua would emerge as a model district in Jammu & Kashmir.
Dr Jitendra Singh cited figures to state that a record amount of over Rs 850 crore has been sanctioned from the Central Government in the last three years for construction of roads and bridges in district Kathua. This, he said, is not only possibly the highest amount so far sanctioned for Kathua roads in the last several decades, but is also possibly the highest amount among the various districts of the State in the last several years.
The Union Minister said, out of the record Rs. 2600 crore Central Fund sanctioned for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for J&K by the Modi Government, almost half the amount is earmarked for Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha Constituency and out of this, Kathua alone has received Rs. 405.66 crore for completion of 73 roads under PMGSY scheme with a total length of 547.14 kms.
He said, under the Central Road Fund (CRF), from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the major works include Juthana bridge at the cost of Rs. 45.54 crore, Halti Road upgradation costing Rs. 404.52 crore and Lakhanpur-Thien road to Ranjeet Sagar Dam costing Rs. 43.94 crore. In addition, he said, another amount of Rs. 34.25 crore under CRF categories is in the pipeline for construction of the historic Keediyan-Gadhiyal bridge which is already under construction at a budget of nearly Rs. 150 crore.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the North India’s first ever Bio-tech Park coming up at Gaati, Dreamland Park in Kathua and construction of sheds and benches at the Kathua Railway Station from the MPLAD fund.
He also announced that the Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda will soon lay the foundation stone of the new Medical College at Kathua, while the new Engineering College has also been sanctioned under the Union HRD Ministry’s “Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan” (RUSA). Besides this, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the first-ever Aromatic Medicinal Plant Project has been initiated in Basohli and the Atal Setu bridge in Basohli, which was, however, sanctioned by the earlier UPA Government, was expedited and dedicated to public on December 24, 2015 on the eve of the birthday of Atal Bihari Vajpayee next day.
He called upon the BJP Karyakartas to carry the message of a series of unprecedented new initiatives and projects undertaken in the district to the masses and make them understand that all this could have happened even in the last 70 years, but the earlier Governments never kept this as a priority. He asked the Karyakartas to articulate these statistics loud and clear, and challenge their critics to oppose the contention if they can with evidence.
In his address BJP State general secretary, Dr Narendra Singh asked BJP activists to come upto the expectations of the people. He said not only the Ministers and legislators but party activists are also answerable to the people who have trusted us and their faith should not be betrayed.
BJP District President Kathua, Prem Nath Dogra, MLA Hira Nagar Kuldeep Raj, State general secretary Dr Narendra Singh, BJP district prabhari Pramod Kapahi and Organizing Secretary Indrajeet also spoke on the occasion.
Later, in another function, Dr Jitendra Singh visited the Government High School in village Naran, where he inaugurated a Computer Section donated from his sources. Amidst cheers from the children, he also announced that an Internet facility will be provided with provision for Distant Education through Satellite. He told the children that when visits the school next time, he will expect them to give computer-based presentations prepared by them.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that Rs 21.14 crore Ghagwal road will be taken up for construction soon while the work on Rs 15 crore Jatwal road has been started.
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