Modi Lays Foundation for 209 Projects Worth Rs 3,161 Crore in Jammu

Srinagar: Security has been further tightened across Jammu and Kashmir ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, daylong visit to the Union Territory’s winter capital Jammu on February 20. Meanwhile, the authorities here have confirmed that the Prime Minister will during his visit inaugurate or lay the foundation of as many as 209 projects worth over Rs 3,161 crore located in various districts of J&K. He is also scheduled to address a public rally, his second in the UT after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

The official sources here said that the Army and the Border Security Force (BSF) have been asked to maintain strict vigil along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan and ensure that there is no incident of intrusion from across the borders. In the hinterland, the J&K police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have stepped up the patrolling of highways and other vulnerable area whereas additional drop-gates and checkpoints have been set up along the Pathankote-Jammu-Srinagar and Poonch-Rajouri-Jammu highways and some other inter-districts roads with the uniformed men stopping and searching vehicles randomly. 

They were also seen searching vehicles and frisking their passengers in the twin capitals of Jammu and Srinagar on Friday.

A report said that the police have seized several motorbikes and a few cars after finding these without registration plates or incomplete papers in southern Kulgam and Anantnag districts. The government said that the projects that will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister virtually from Jammu’s Maulana Azad Stadium on Tuesday morning will upgrade infrastructure,



strengthen service delivery systems, and general employment opportunities, and spur progress and prosperity in the UT.

The projects for which the Prime Minister will lay foundation stones include nine new industrial estates spreading over 277 acres of land and the officials believe that these will “attract large investments and create employment opportunities.” The other development works Mr. Modi will lay foundation stones for include 62 road projects and 42 new bridges coming up across the UT at a cost of Rs 891.53 crores, an official spokesman said.

He will also lay the foundation of 2,816 flats for the use of Kashmiri Pandit migrants at nine locations in the districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama, and Kupwara in the Kashmir Valley. A data centre, a disaster recovery centre for integrated command and a control centre for the Jammu Smart City Project, and the upgradation and revamping of Transport Nagar in Srinagar’s Parimpora area are some of the other projects for which foundation stones will be laid by the Prime Minister towards enhancing urban infrastructure, the spokesman said. 

The 85 projects to be inaugurated by him include seven power grids three receiving stations and three transmission line projects in the Jammu, Samba, and Ramban districts of Jammu region and Pulwama, Srinagar, Baramulla, and Budgam districts of the Kashmir Valley. He will also inaugurate twelve road projects and three bridges constructed at a total cost of Rs 184.19 crores besides 224 flats to provide transit accommodation to Kashmir Pandit migrant employees and their families at two separate locations in the Kupwara and Ganderbal districts.