‘70 Union Ministers are going to visit Jammu and Kashmir over the next few months’.
Srinagar: Many parliamentary standing committees in the recent past visited Jammu and Kashmir and they included many MPs from the Opposition parties and their presence has given a push to governance and development here.
On the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 70 Union Ministers are going to visit Jammu and Kashmir over the next few months as the BJP government is keen to show that they care for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. In this mega outreach programme by the Modi government, some ministers from the Union government have already arrived in Jammu and Kashmir.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and his two junior ministers Kailash Choudhary and Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday visited the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and held a lot of interactions with farmers, agriculture scientists and other stakeholders regarding various welfare measures and policies and especially about the central schemes for the farmers here.
In order to provide a mega push to the horticulture sector, Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters in Srinagar that he has seen visible impact of the various schemes launched by the BJP government and said that the central government is keen to give new direction to the agriculture and horticulture sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the central government is very keen, “to see a new and dynamic J&K and ensure that the farmers would be connected with hi-density infrastructure through Agri-Infrastructure funds”.
It is in place to mention that ICAR-CITH Srinagar is emerging as the main source of new technology in temperate horticulture crops and many farmers in Kashmir are connecting themselves with CITH to get their orchards changed into high density apple orchards.
In the coming week, at least 10 Union ministers will finish their visits to Jammu and Kashmir and the administration is busy briefing them about the implementation about the different schemes on the ground and to show them the visible impact of their efforts in the sectors like agriculture and horticulture. Reports said that after their visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, all the 70 Union ministers will submit reports to the Home Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Earlier, the Prime Minister organized a meeting with all the political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir and promised them that he will try to bridge the gap between Srinagar and New Delhi as much as he can. It is in place to mention that there have been several efforts by the central government to conduct outreach programmes of its ministers to Jammu and Kashmir. In January last year, 36 Union ministers visited here.
Already 13 Parliamentary Standing Committees (around 300 MPs) have visited J&K; Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was on a week-long tour of Ladakh and Kashmir and held interaction sessions with the administration and politicians.