Sir,
The railway budget and subsequently budget-2014-15 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 10.07.2014 have brought big cheer to people of J&K though with some reservations. Construction of state of art railway station with all the modern facilities and linking Katra with several state capitals by way of many new trains has been welcomed by one and all. Opening of an IIT in Jammu is something special for this region. This premier institute shall open new avenues for technical education for students of J&K and other adjoining states and inculcate in them a sense of hard work and competition. A KV at Kishtwar too, is highly relevant for this remote and backward hilly district. More so, provision for Pashmina industry for Kashmir and Ladakh, a mega solar power project at Leh, a Mountaineering & Skiing institute at Gulmarg , would apparently reflect an even coverage of all the three regions of the state. But here, there are some glaring omissions viza-a-viz. Jammu region.
Keeping aside other deprivations Jammu suffers from , tourism promotion in Jammu which all along got a raw deal has once again been ignored. Highly scenic Sarthal- Bhadarwah and Basantgarh- Sudh Mahadev- Kud belts are nowhere in the reckoning. Even the two beautiful lakes – Mansar and Sruisar have been woefully forgotten and do not figure on the tourist map of J&K. Tapping of tourist potential in Jammu region thus far denied its due, need be assigned a higher priority and a few highly deserving areas included in the current year’s budget only.
While Kashmiri pandits and other border migrants have rightly been taken care of, the long pending issue of POK refugees who were displaced in 1947 from Muzaffrabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Rawalkote etc, and subsequently, in 1965 and 1971 wars, has been conveniently forgotten. Even PM Modi, after paying obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishnu Devi Jee, had assured to address this long pending issue in his pre- election rally at Hiranagar. But to no result thus far. The two Jammu MPs – Dr. Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore jee Sharma who are well conversant with POK refugee problem, are requested to use their good office to get this item included in the budget 2014-15 only, as a supplementary item or whichever way possible.
Hopefully, these omissions would be deliberated up on and funds allocated in the current year’s budget only.
Yours etc….
B.K. Suri
Jammu
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