‘Taking Kashmir to international forum, monumental blunder’
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 14: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri today said that the Prime Minister’s commitment to the development of Jammu and Kashmir is turning into reality.
The Minister told a press conference here that the PM’s development initiatives in J&K have created an emotional bond between the people and the country.
“Central schemes directly benefit the people and I am glad that work is going on at the ground level,” he added.
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Puri said people are investing in the economic development in the J&K because of the Central Government’s farsighted decision to remove the bottleneck of Articles 370 and 35A.
He said that a new dawn of development is now set in the J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 that could be judged from the fact that 25 new National Highway Projects have been sanctioned to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 11,721 crores, 168 MoUs have been signed amounting to Rs 13,600 crores, seven new Medical Colleges have been sanctioned with medical seats increased from 500 to 955, world’s highest railway bridge constructed in J&K, Vande Bharat Express is in operation from Jammu to Delhi and tourist footfall increased.
The Minister said that under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, some 12 lakh LPG connections have been provided under PM Ujjwala, 50,000 houses have been sanctioned under PMAY (U).
Puri said that the petroleum prices have seen a sharp rise from July 2021 to August, 2022 with 43 percent to 46 percent increase in USA and Canada while as India is the only country in the world where only 2 percent increase has been seen during that period.
“When many countries in the world are witnessing the shortage of fuel and exorbitant price rise, there is no shortage of fuel in India even in the remotest corners of the country,” he added.
Interacting with the district administration officers in Srinagar, Puri said that the Centre is committed to achieving new milestones with respect to growth and development in J&K.
Puri reviewed the progress of work on various development projects and work done as per Government schemes like PM Awas Yojana, PM Ujwala, PM SVANidhi, SBM 2.0 and Amrut 2.0.
During the review meeting, the Minister said that application of modern technology to solid waste management is the need of the hour and Srinagar will be among the cities where such strategies will be adopted on a priority basis. He said that there is a need to process the waste as per modern standards to avoid dumping it at one location, which is hazardous to the ecosystem.
Interacting with the beneficiaries of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Puri said that there are many schemes and projects under Housing and Urban Affairs that people need to take advantage of. He added we could now improve resource utilisation through the use of technology better than the earlier times.”
Elaborating on the work undertaken in Srinagar under the Smart City project, Puri highlighted that urban planning is essential as new settlements in cities have come up and there is a need to replace the old traditions to deal with the new challenges. He said that urban work has one litmus test that is to produce benefits for the citizens, and the voices of the people need to be heard for the same.
Commenting on the economic boost due to development in urban space, the Minister said that the urban space had been neglected earlier and the Government took the opportunity to reform this sector, which is evident from the fact that cities are now the largest contributors to the GDP of the country.
The Minister was briefed about the redevelopment of the city by the district administration. He complimented the administration for working with dedication in order to bring about the timely completion of different projects. He advised district administrators and local bodies to take appropriate measures for dealing with solid waste management, discourage the use of single-use plastic and address the voices of people on a timely basis.
While handing over the sanction letters to the beneficiaries of various schemes, the Minister said that the benefits of development should reach the poorest at the grass-roots level and the Government is ensuring that it takes care of people in terms of any adversity.
Puri targeted first PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru over Kashmir, saying the decision of country’s first Prime minister to take the issue to a multilateral forum was a “monumental blunder”.
“Why was the (Kashmir) issue taken to international or multinational fora. My information has been that then Maharaja Hari Singh was happy to sign the instrument of accession. That’s what I have read as a student of history,” he said.
“But the political leadership in Delhi was saying they wanted it (accession) to be more broad based and therefore they wanted a plebiscite. So they wanted to take it to a multilateral forum. You cannot have a higher folly than that. I am using word folly very mildly,” Puri told reporters here.
The Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas was responding when asked if he agreed with the views of his cabinet colleague Kiren Rijiju on Nehru’s handling of Kashmir that the Union Law Minister had expressed in an article.
“Was it an error of judgment? You can say the man made a mistake but you cannot justify it. The historical facts are staring you in the face that making the reference (to multinational fora) and calling for a plebiscite is not a folly, I think it is a monumental blunder. So I agree with my dear friend and colleague Kiren Rijiju entirely,” Puri said.
The minister said it was because of the mistake made by Nehru that Pakistan was able to foment trouble in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Because you made that mistake, other people took advantage of it. One country has been using terror as an instrument of state policy. I have said it 20 years ago. On ‘BBC Hard Talk’, I said this is a problem created from across the border but they could create this problem because someone on our side allowed them to do it,” he said.
The Minister said he was pleased that today when he is in Kashmir. “We are talking about development. Some years ago, what we were dealing with was an entire cadre of professional stone pelters,” he said.
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