Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 31: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reviewed development and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Jammu and Kashmir and other North Indian States with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Members of Parliament (MPs) of these States at his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence in New Delhi this morning.
The meeting lasted about two hours.
All four BJP MPs from Jammu and Kashmir including Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh, Jugal Kishore Sharma (Jammu-Poonch), Thupstan Chhewang (Ladakh) and Shamsher Singh Manhas (Rajya Sabha) attended the meeting along with their party colleagues from New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Union Territory of Chandigarh.
“Had a good meeting with MP colleagues from Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,’’ Modi tweeted after the meeting.
Of these States, BJP was in power at Haryana and Uttarakhand while it shared Government with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have Congress Government while Delhi is governed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sources told the Excelsior that the Prime Minister reviewed development works in Jammu and Kashmir and other States, undertaken during three years rule of the BJP at Centre and vision for remaining two years of the Government. He called upon the MPs to ensure that the developmental works are completed in time and they don’t suffer for want of funds from the Central Government.
They added that all four MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, in their address, gave detailed briefing to the Prime Minister on pace of developmental works initiated in Jammu and Kashmir during past three years of the BJP Government at the Centre and the works proposed to be taken during the next couple of years.
The Prime Minister issued guidelines for future on developmental agenda of his Government while introspecting progress of previous three years. He called upon the BJP MPs to ensure that development didn’t suffer in their States at any cost.
While Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar attended the meeting with the Prime Minister, six other Ministers joined the meeting as representatives of their States. They included Science and Technology Minister Harshvardhan, Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, Steel Minister Choudhary Virender Singh, Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Planning, Rao Inderjeet Singh and Minister of State for Social Justice Vijay Sampla.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned Rs 80,080 crores worth Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) for Jammu and Kashmir in November 2015. Under the PMDP, several works have been undertaken in hands in both Central and State sectors.
Sources said Modi also reviewed implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Jammu and Kashmir and other States of North India with the BJP MPs. Describing GST as landmark decision of the Centre, he called upon the MPs to ensure its success by holding awareness programmes etc, wherever required.
The Prime Minister asked small businesses and traders to register under the recently rolled out GST, as the Members of Parliament maintained that there was a lot of enthusiasm among small commercial ventures regarding the new law.
“GST has been accepted and overwhelmingly supported across the country. Small traders should also register themselves with this new tax law. It should be ensured that the benefit chain of GST be continued,” an official statement quoted Modi as saying.
Modi asked them to ensure that senior citizens get maximum benefits under various welfare schemes, including a new pension scheme, ‘Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY)’, under which they will get 8 per interest on their deposits.
The Prime Minister also talked about the development of hill regions, noting that the Government had implemented various new schemes which had resulted in qualitative changes in the life of people.
As a result, tremendous opportunities for jobs and tourism had opened up in the hill States, he added.
On closure of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Chandigarh and Puducherry, Modi said money was directly transferred into the beneficiaries’ accounts. This model, he added, could be adopted in other States as well.
This was Modi’s sixth meeting with BJP MPs at his residence during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. He has been meeting BJP MPs of different States separately to get feedback from them on three years of governance and give them agenda for next two years especially on the developmental works in their States.
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