Reiterating the commitment of the state government for holistic development of all the regions of the State with special focus on far-off and hilly areas, the Minister for Tourism Ghulam Ahmad Mir has said the government’s pro-people policies and exemplary initiatives have placed the State on the track of peace and prosperity. He affirmed that this would be carried forward with a mission to ensure all-round development of rural as well as kandi areas.According to a statement issued to KNS, addressing a massive public gathering today at Verinag, the Minister enumerated several measures taken for comprehensive development of the area. He said besides up gradation of infrastructure under core sectors, the varied tourism potential of the area received focused attention adding that work on several tourism projects have been already completed, while some projects would be completed this fiscal and many more projects are in the pipe line .
Mir assured the people that their genuine demands will be given due consideration and redressed in a time bound manner. He appealed panchs and sarpanchs to act in close coordination with the local administration in the implementation of various welfare and flagship development programmes in their respective panchayats. He said government is keen to uplift the socio-economic condition of the rural masses, adding that functional panchayats with infrastructure will pave way for rapid growth and progress.
The Minister gave on spot directions to various departments to redress grievances and development needs of people on priority basis. He also exhorted upon the officers to complete the ongoing projects within the stipulated time, ensuring quality as per norms.
The Minister thanked the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their help to restore tranquility and law and order in the State. He said it was the faith of people and their active role to help maintaining calm that the government was able to restore normalcy in the State. He said present days are the most conducive days in the State in last 25 years.“Peace is pre-requisite to development and prosperity”, Mir said and appealed people to play their important role in maintaining harmony between various sections of the society and the regions in the State. He asked the people to continue extending their support to the government to seek prosperity.
On developmental sector, the Minister said that the promises made by coalition government are being fulfilled. “We have made new strides and laid edifice for peaceful and economically sound Jammu and Kashmir”, he said adding that though everything has not been achieved in full yet the march to progress is firm and the intention of government to take the State to the new highs of prosperity and stability is sincere and clear.The Minister referred to the path-breaking initiatives taken by the government to curb the corruption, bring transparency and give power to the people to scan the functioning of the government. He also referred to the benefits of Public Services Guarantee Act and said that this kind of law to ensure time bound service delivery has not even been passed in the Parliament despite threats of hunger strike by various leaders. “State government has brought some various services under the ambit of PSGA to ensure their delivery in a time bound manner and making the erring officials liable for fine for failing to deliver the particular services in a fixed time frame”, he said and asked the people to take best advantage of this Act.
The Minister said that the special focus given by the government to ameliorate the lot of youth in the State and open new vistas of development and job market for them have also started yielding tremendous results on ground. He mentioned the youth centric schemes of SKEWPY, UDAAN, HIMAYAT and Entrepreneurship Development and said that these historic initiatives would not only help to enhance orbit of employment for the youth but catapult the entrepreneurship development in the State. Former MLC, Mr. Mohammad Amin Bhat and other Senior Congress leaders of the area also addressed the gathering and highlighted the achievements of the government registered during last over five years in the State. (KNS)