Centre strongly behind him, LG Sinha to stay in J&K

SRINAGAR: After facing a lot of criticism and sarcasm from regional and national political parties over the eviction drive, hiring of recruitment agency banned by several state governments and finally arrest of Kiron Patel from Gujarat who was provided Z-plus security, L-G Manoj Sinha is going to stay with the strong support from the Union Home Ministry.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a recent function appreciated the efforts and work done by LG Manoj Sinha in Jammu and Kashmir against all odds. Indian Express in its IE100 report has put LG Manoj Sinha as the 24th rank influential personality in the country in the year 2023.
After facing lot of flak, the J&K government has appointed Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Budhari as an inquiry officer to identify the lapses on the part of officers and submit a report within one week on how a conman from Gujarat was given Z-plus security and protocol for over several months in Jammu and Kashmir. Soon after getting support from the Union Home Ministry, recently LG Manoj Sinha told the media about the figures of how Jammu and Kashmir was progressing on the path of development.
He said that his administration will soon make a provision to provide land, home to the poor, in order to blunt criticism about his anti-encroachment drive in which many poor people lost their sheds and shelters. Giving details about economic growth, he said that the growth is at 14.64% and revenue has shown growth of 31%. He said that the law and order situation has improved to such heights that 1.88 crores tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir so far. Sinha gave figures about the sports activities being inculcated among the youth of Jammu and Kashmir and said that nearly 50 lakh youth have participated in different sports activities this year. Regarding investments in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the highest-ever investment of Rs 1,547.87 crore was received during the last 10 months of this year. “500 start-ups have come up during the last 3 years and road construction nearly doubled to 3,200 km against 1500-1600 km in 2018,” he added.
Trying to blunt the criticism for the selection of black list company to conduct the recruitment process, he said recruitments would be transparent and based on merit. “There was a recruitment mafia in Jammu and Kashmir for the past few decades and it has ended and now they are frightened,” he said. Regarding the vacant posts in J&K administration, he said that vacant posts will be filled on a fast-track basis and the government has a target to cover 3 lakh youth under various self-employment schemes in 2023-24. Although LG Manoj Sinha is trying to play down all criticism being faced in Jammu and Kashmir, especially from the former chief ministers, it is to be seen how the coming months will unfold regarding the political situation on the ground here.