Likely to launch Rs 1,900 Cr 16 projects in Jammu Div
STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived here on Monday on a three-day visit of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah arrived in the evening and was received at the airport by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Union minister Jitendra Singh, besides Pradesh President BJP Ravinder Raina and former Dy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, among others.
In Jammu, according to sources, Shah is likely to launch 16 projects involving cost of Rs 1,900 Crore in the Jammu Division. The major projects include formation of 1000 cooperatives, launch of Digital tagline for J&K, 225 services under IT will Online, 128 roads with length of 920 kms at the cost of Rs 1,111.96 Cr besides laying of 100-bedded Hospital at Lamberi, Rajouri and 41 water supply schemes under Jal Mission.
Late in the evening, Jammu based delegations of Gujjar, Bakerwal, Pahari communities and Rajput Sabha called on the Home Minister at Raj Bhawan.
Former President Amar Khstriya Rajputa Sabha and senior BJP leader Thakur Narayan Singh expressed gratitude to the Home Minister for conceding to the over whelming demand of declaring Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary as public holiday in J&K.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Paharis, a long-pending demand of the community mostly residing in Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region and Baramulla in north Kashmir, where Shah is scheduled to address public rallies over the next two days.
Gujjars and Bakerwals have expressed resentment over the proposed inclusion of Paharis in the ST category.
There is massive enthusiasm among the Paharis in anticipation of a major announcement from the home minister but at the same time, the Gujjars and the Bakerwals, apprehending dilution of the ST status, have come out to express their resentment against the proposed move.
Hundreds of Gujjar and Bakerwal college students gathered here and staged a peaceful march to oppose the likely inclusion of the Pahari-speaking people in the ST category.
Home Minister’s visit to Rajouri: Traffic Advisory issued
JAMMU: Authorities on Monday issued a Traffic Advisory on the scheduled visit of Home Minister to Rajouri where he will address a public rally. As per the advisory issued by Traffic Police Office Rural Jammu, the Vehicles of Participants plying from Poonch, Surankote, Mendhar and Manjakote routes will be de-boarded at convoy ground (Yatra ground) and LMVs will be parked at Convoy ground.
Buses/Minibuses/Tata Sumos of Poonch, Surankote, Mendhar and Manjakote routes, after de-boarding the participants at convoy ground, will be returned back and parked at SKUAST ground Tandwal. Vehicles of Participants plying from Sunderbani, Nowshera, and Kalakote routes will be de-boarded at Panj-Peer and LMVs will be parked at BSF Convoy ground/Tourism Parking (Alpha Gate).
Buses/Mini-Buses/Tata Sumo’s from Sunderbani, Nowshera, and Kalakote routes, after de-boarding the participants at Panj-Peer (Near Pir Baba Ziyarat), will be returned back and parked at Sabzi Mandi (Phalyana).
Vehicles of Participants plying from Budhal, Kandi, Palma,Kotedhara routes will be diverted from Khandli via Dhangri-Muradpur towards Panj-Peer and LMVs will be parked at BSF Convoy ground and HMVs at Sabzi Mandi (Phalyana) and those participants who want to park their vehicles near Khandli Bhadoon will be allowed to park their vehicles at Badhoon along road side.
Vehicles of Participants plying from Thanamandi, Darhal routes will be de boarded at Bella Colony and LMVs will be parked at Bella ground.
Buses, Mini-Buses andTata Sumos from Thanamandi, Darhal routes after de-boarding the participants at Bella Colony will be returned back and parked at DIET Rajouri/FCI Parking/Sports Stadium Parking (Kheora).
Vehicles of Participants plying from Choudhary-Nar and Dhandkote routes will be de boarded and Parked at PG College Rajouri.
Vehicles of Participants plying from Gurdhan route will be de-boarded/Parked at Old Bus-Stand Rajouri.
The STs have been granted 10 per cent reservation in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for the first time after a recent delimitation exercise. Nine seats have been reserved for the STs, while seven are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs).
Welcoming the visit of the Home Minister, the Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar Bakerwals Organisations Coordination Committee appreciated the steps taken by the BJP-led Centre for the betterment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in general and that of the STs in particular.
“For the last 30 years, no central or state government implemented the law relating to the STs in Jammu and Kashmir. It is the current government that provided political reservation and implemented the Forest Rights Act in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” convenor of the committee Anwar Choudhary told reporters here.
However, he appealed to Shah to allay the apprehensions that the ST status of the Gujjars, Bakerwals, Gadis and Sippis shall not be diluted by including any other section of people from Jammu and Kashmir in the category.
Senior BJP leader Arshad Choudhary, who is from the Gujjar community, said the demand of the Paharis for the ST status is “spurious and unjustifiable”, and said the tribals got the ST status after decades of relentless struggle and secured 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education.