Udhampur:
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said the ”unprecedented” development that has taken place in the last six years in Jammu and Kashmir is being seen by the voters. Addressing a series of public meetings as part of the District Development Council (DDC) election campaign here, Singh said the district got the rare distinction in the country as it has received two national river and water rejuvenation projects, namely the Devika river project and the Mansar lake project.
Singh, Union Minister for the PMO, said in addition, a centrally funded state-of-the-art health and wellness centre is coming up at Mantalai at the site which had been ”dumped” by the then Congress government after the demise of Dhirendra Brahmachari over three decades ago. The minister said Udhampur-Kathua-Doda is possibly the only Lok Sabha constituency in the entire country which has received three centrally funded medical colleges in four years, one of which is for Udhampur.
In addition, the first two highway villages of the country are also coming up in Udhampur and Kathua respectively, he said. Not only this, he said, a passport office has been opened at Udhampur, a centrally funded multipurpose indoor sports stadium has been started here and a radio station also set up which assumes significance because the demand for it was for the first time raised by the people of Udhampur way back in 1965, when the Indo-Pak war broke out and Radio Pakistan signal needed to be countered for its false propaganda.
Similarly, the minister said, Devika bridge, inaugurated this year and constructed by the BRO, has overcome the bottleneck at the military hospital crossing on the main highway. The irony, however, is that those who are claiming that nothing has happened are at the same time not reluctant or ashamed of taking all the benefit of development as well as the welfare schemes, he said.
Singh said the high speed development started in this region will continue in future as well and it will gain momentum as well as greater relevance with the constituting of District Development Councils and setting up of three-tier grassroot democracy. PTI
