Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Kathua district is being developed as a ‘model’ to set example for other districts so that they can follow its successful development pattern.Dr Singh said this while laying foundation stone for road from Dolh Khud to village Panyara. The road stretching 4.2 Kms will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 487.46 lakh under PMGSY and will prove essential in providing enhanced road connectivity to many villages in the area including Rakhey, Chaknal, Chanota, Parala and Panyara.Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh said that Kathua along with its border areas is the prime focus for development with multiple works in pipeline to bring it at par with any modern district in the country.“With large scale infrastructure development in the district including construction of bridges, roads, bio tech park, modern seed processing unit, engineering college, medical college and radio station, the district is moving towards becoming a model district for the state adding that streamlined efforts are underway to achieve this feat”, Dr Singh added.Highlighting the significance of PMGSY, Dr Singh said that Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), has been launched by the Government of India to provide connectivity to unconnected habitations as part of poverty reduction strategy adding that a target has been set to complete all works initiated by him by 2019.MLA Kathua Rajeev Jasrotia and MLA Hiranagar Kuldeep Raj expressed their gratitude to the Minister for commencing various development projects in Kathua. They also projected various demands of the people from their areas including focus on creating PHE & PDD infra for Kandi areas and early completion of bunkers for border residents.Among others DC Kathua Ramesh Kumar, Chief Engineer PMGSY P L Bhushan, Addl. SP Kathua Khalil Poswal, XENs and other district officers were present during the function.