Deputy British High Commissioner, Dr Alexander Evans Tuesday met Chief Secretary, B R Sharma here at the Civil Secretariat.Director General of Police, K. Rajendra Kumar was also present in the meeting along with Regional Overseas Security Manager, Mr William Smith and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Mr Pratyush Rao.During the hour long meeting, Chief Secretary and DGP updated Dr Evans with the overall security and development scenario prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir highlighted the need to remove negative travel advisory for J&K.Chief Secretary informed the Deputy British High Commissioner about the vital road sector projects underway in Jammu and Kashmir aimed at removing the physical barriers between various regions of the state and providing a better connectivity with the rest of the country.
"J&K Government with central support has taken in hand many key road and tunnel projects. Once completed these will enable round the year connectivity to Jammu, Leh, Gurez and other areas besides significantly reducing travel time " Chief Secretary said.
"The Train service in J&K is very popular and work on the rail project to connect Katra and Banihal is in full swing. Once the rail project is completed in J&K, horticulture and tourism sectors are expected to receive major boost" Chief Secretary maintained.Chief Secretary also spoke about the J&K Governments' recent initiatives to harness hydro power and reduce T&D losses aimed at transforming J&K into a Power Surplus State.Chief Secretary and DGP also underlined the need to remove negative travel advisories for foreign tourists visiting Kashmir Valley along with Jammu and Ladakh regions."People welcome tourists, foreign nationals & locals alike, all our tourists destinations including Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonmarg are trouble free" DGP said.Dr Evans during the meeting spoke about his long association with the State of J&K. He said the situation now in J&K is much better than it was during the nineties, when he was a student of Kashmir University pursuing his PHD in J&K History.The Deputy British High Commissioner said that he will be taking up the issue regarding J&K Travel Advisory with the British Government and hoped that right situational awareness will lead to positive changes in the same.