Minister for Finance, Labour, Employment and Culture, Dr Haseeb Drabu has said that the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi to Jammu and Kashmir will give a fresh impetus to implementation of PDP-BJP “Agenda of Alliance” in the State.Interacting with people during his visit to Pampore, Pulwama and Rajpora constituencies today, Dr Drabu said people in the State are expecting the Prime Minister to make tangible confidence building measures aimed at addressing the political and economic challenges confronting Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr Drabu said the priority of the State Government right now is to address the alienation especially among the youth and kick-start a developmental process to not only rebuild the flood-hit public and private infrastructure, but also ensure long-term economic prosperity of the people in all the regions and sub-regions of the State.He said resources are not a problem, the only thing that needs immediate attention is to build the capacity for spending the available funds so that durable assets are created in key sectors. “Unfortunately, due to the slip-shod functioning of the previous regime, not only have thousands of crores gone down the drain, but the present Government inherited a liability of around Rs 9000 crore from the previous regime with nothing substantial having been done on the ground,” he said and added that it is for the first time that almost 70% of the district plan allocations were released in the second quarter of the year to complete the ongoing works and start ones.
Dr Drabu said the Government has identified power, agriculture, tourism, horticulture, handicrafts as thrust areas which have not only the potential to boost the State economy but create huge employment avenues for the local youth. He said there will be adequate flow of funds for these sectors to create a vibrant economy.People at various places informed the Minister about the problems being faced by them and sought immediate mitigation of the same. The issues raised by locals included macadamisation of roads, augmentation of drinking and irrigation water supply, adequate power supply and upgradation of healthcare and educational facilities.The Minister assured the locals that the issues raised by them would be flagged at the concerned quarters for immediate redress.Legislators Mohammad Khalil Bandh and Zahoor Ahmad Mir, PDP General Secretary, Rafi Ahmad Mir and PDP District President Pulwama, Abdul Gani Vakil accompanied the Minister.