Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Law & Justice Abdul Haq Khan Sunday said government is keen to bring Kupwara district on tourism map.
Speaking to a gathering of people at Devar, Kupwara, Khan said that government would develop the frontier district Kupwara as tourism viable district.He said a network of roads are coming up in Kupwara district especially in Lolab valley which will reduce the distances and bring the valley on the global map of tourism.
Minister, who was accompanied by Minister of State for Haj & Auqaf, Syed Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, further said the connectivity to Lolab will be enhanced and in this regard construction of various roads is in pipeline. He said government has planned a 40 Crore project to construct a road which will connect Khumriyal with Ring village in Kupwara district.He said the roads in Safawali Lolab and Namgari in Lolab are also in governments plan for construction for which an estimated cost will be 100 crores. He said Lolab-Bandipora road will be thrown open soon by the government. The Minister assured that all pending works of Rural Development Department will be completed on priority as funds for the same are available in abundance.Haq said it is for the first time that the funds in Rural Development Department are being used fruitfully to create productive assets. He said in the same way MGNREGA funds would also be utilized to create sustainable and productive assets in villages besides doing flood related works.
The Minister said the department recently inaugurated as many as 56 bridges and same number of bridges has been completed. He said several initiatives are in pipeline on developmental front to ensure all-round transformation of the developmental landscape of Jammu and Kashmir.He said productive use of funds in RDD will be instrumental in changing socio-economic profile of the people living in the rural areas, besides creating much needed employment opportunities.Earlier Syed Farooq Andrabi also addressed the public in Devar area of Lolab Valley and said the government will provide every possible support to the youth who are ready to start their own business.He asked the unemployed youngsters to make use of various government schemes so that they can start their own business and instead of waiting for employment, they can provide job opportunities to others too.Andrabi also asked the youths to remain vigilant and don’t fall prey to the anti-social elements who are hell bent to disturb the peace in the State.Both the Ministers later reviewed the developmental works in the Lolab valley and interacted with the officials of the district.