REASI: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday announced an amount of Rs. 50 lakh for development works in Arnas and Gool segments of district Reasi falling in his constituency.
This will be in addition to the funds from other sources which would be made available for different ongoing works in the area, he said.
Addressing a public meeting, Dr Jitendra said that out of the amount of Rs. 50 lakh allocated today, Rs. 15 lakh MP-LAD in convergence with Rs. 10 lakh will be spent on building bridle paths. Another Rs. 4.5 lakh would be spent on building fencing wall in the school at Gool, he said, while additional Rs. 4.5 lakh will be spent on construction of Ghoda Gali in Gool.
An amount of Rs. 8.5 lakh, Dr Singh said, has already been earmarked for supplementing arrangements enroute the upcoming Kousal Yatra. Rs. 5 lakh has already been allocated for bridle paths and Rs. 2.5 lakh is kept at the disposal of the village Salal, he added.
Dr Jitendra regretted that even though Arnas-Gool is a region of high geographical and strategical importance for the State of Jammu and Kashmir, it did not receive the kind of attention it deserved. He said, rising above political and party considerations, and regardless of the political party of MLAs representing these areas, it is the responsibility of the government and also his personal responsibility as Member of Parliament from the area to ensure equitable development and fair deal for these areas.Referring to some of the path – breaking new initiatives of the Modi Government in the last two years, Dr Jitendra said, the Central Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows the principle of “cooperative federalism” vis-à-vis different States of the Union. This, he said, implies that the states will not only get their due share, but also that part of the share which they deserved but was not forthcoming earlier. In the similar vein, he said, the governments in the states are also expected to follow the principle of cooperative federalism among different regions and in case of Jammu and Kashmir, this would imply equitable development of not only the three regions of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir, but also each of the smaller regions falling in each of these three bigger regions.
District Development Commissioner Reasi Ravinder Kumar, senior officers of district administration, District BJP President Kuldeep Dubey were among the larger number of prominent citizens and officers who attended the meeting.