Kamal Ghorui
JAMMU: Under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership, Govt of India (GoI) remains firmly committed to the vision of building a developed and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir, Union home minister Amit Shah said at a high-level meeting he chaired on Saturday to review the progress of development projects in the Union Territory.The meeting was attended by LG Manoj Sinha, CM Omar Abdullah, Union home. secretary Govind Mohan, J&K chief secretary Atal Dulloo and DGP Nalin Prabhat and other senior officials.While noting that the development projects in the UT had made unprecedented progress, which he credited to the continuous and dedicated efforts being made by Modi govt, the home minister said J&K needed to develop the full potential of its hydropower projects. Special focus should be laid on achieving 100% saturation of govt’s welfare schemes and ensuring that the benefits of all projects reach the intended beneficiaries, he added.Shah underlined the need for aggressive marketing of tourist destinations in J&K to explore the full tourism potential available here. He assured that the Centre would provide all possible assistance in the plan to develop new tourist destinations in the region.Stressing the need to focus on developing sports infrastructure and establishing sports academies to connect the youth with development, he said efforts would be made to secure an investment of Rs 200 crore for this purpose. Shah, who is also the Union cooperation minister, called for taking steps to promote the dairy sector in J&K through the National Dairy Development Board.The home minister said India was steadily progressing towards the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047, marking 100 years of Independence, and GoI would continue to extend wholehearted support to J&K to achieve that.“Jammu & Kashmir has been brought under the ambit of the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment scheme for the first time in FY 2025-26, enabling access to 50-year interest-free loans for capital projects, he said, underlining that strengthened fiscal discipline would assist in stabilising the UT’s fiscal deficit over time.
