The Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Prakash today said that the up-gradation of road network in border areas will be given special attention to facilitate people, mostly farmers to have easy access to the nearest markets and urban centres.The Minister was interacting with the local people during inspection of the up-gradation work on Vijaypur- Ramgarh Road. The road is being upgraded by the Border Road Organization(BRO) with the re-carpeting and blacktopping going on in full swing. The Minister said that border areas of Jammu and Samba are the rice and wheat bowls of the state and these need best of the road connectivity so that the farmer community can bring in and use latest farming machinery to boost productivity. He said that all roads in border areas would be up-graded and improved in a phased manner.
The Minister also visited border villages including Govindgarh, Nanga, Keso, Pakri, Ramgarh, Chak Babral and various other villages and listened to the demands and grievances of the people.
Responding to the demands, the Minister said that the government is abreast with the problems of the border and rural areas, including requirement of better infrastructure to facilitate growth of local economic activities. He said irrigation facilities of all types, road connectivity, scientific inputs in agriculture and allied trades are the basic requirement for paving the way for growth of rural economy. He said after these needs are met other facilities will also follow. During his tour to these areas, the people projected their demands which were mostly related to sanitation, power, road up-gradation, irrigation and potable water supply. He was accompanied by ADDC Samba Vivek Sharma, SDM Vijaypur Rajnish Gupta, BDO Vijaypur, BDO Ramgarh, XEN PWD, PHE, Food Control, PDD, Tehsildar Ramgarh and other senior officers of various departments.