Srinagar: The BJP ministers who are touring Jammu and Kashmir as part of the Narendra Modi government’s outreach programme Thursday promised development and jobs for the youth by bringing in industries to the region.
The ministers — Ravi Shankar Prasad (Law and Information Technology), G. Kishan Reddy (MoS, Home Affairs) and Shripad Naik (AYUSH and MoS, Defence) — also inaugurated several developmental projects in north and central Kashmir.
These visits are part of the Modi government’s plan to send 36 union ministers to J&K to spread awareness about the positive impact of its Article 370 move and the development measures taken by the government for the region.
‘There would be no lacunae in tackling corruption’
Reddy, in his public address in Ganderbal district, said the Modi government is planning to bring industries to Kashmir by getting investments so that the youth get jobs.
“The central government’s special focus right now is on industrialisation. Kashmir has been bestowed with many natural resources but lacks the avenues to exploit those. The central government is planning to bring industries to Kashmir by getting the investments so that employment avenues are generated for the youth,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the J&K administration’s Department of Information and Public Relations.
The minister further said the union territory’s anti-corruption wing will help in reducing the “gulf between people and the government as it will weed out the practices of corruption completely in the UT”.
“The government has always been funding the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir but the money would go into the pockets of a few certain people and never reach (common) people. But now there would be no lacunae in tackling corruption,” he said.
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‘J&K will get an All India Institute of Ayurveda’
Naik, in his brief interaction with a select group of reporters, said the Modi government doesn’t believe in discriminating on the basis of caste, colour and religion.
“We believe in development,” he said, while speaking to the media after a function held at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre in Srinagar, which was used as a sub-jail to detain Kashmiri politicians after the government’s Article 370 move.
Naik also spoke about the 100-bed All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in Delhi, which was set up in 2016 and said an AIIA would also be established in J&K.
“Everyday 2,000 patients visit the (Delhi) hospital for treatment. It will be set up in other places across India, including J&K,” he said.
Rs 7-crore indoor stadium inaugurated
Law Minister Prasad inaugurated an indoor stadium in Baramulla, built at a cost of Rs 7 crore.
The minister lauded some of the young Kashmiri sportspersons invited by the civil administration to the event and said every effort shall be made on part of the union government to help Kashmiri players reach national and international levels, said a statement by the administration.
Prasad also launched the official logo of Baramulla district. Later, he met sarpanches and panches who appraised him of the issues of their districts and put forward their demands, the statement added.
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