JAMMU: Governor N. N Vohra on Wednesday called for dialogue to resolve all the issues confronted to Jammu and Kashmir, saying the environment of distrust, confrontations and violence can disrupt society and further retard the growth and development of the State. “All the stakeholders must not lose any further time in accepting that the only way forward is through reconciliation, restoration of communal harmony and engaging in dialogue”, the Governor said in his message on the Republic Day.
“In Jammu and Kashmir, our greatest strength is our youth, who comprise almost half of our population. As we have seen for ourselves in the past few years, despite the severe constraints arising from recurring spells of disruption and disorder, our youth has been doing very well in almost every arena”, he said, adding that besides excelling in studies and winning awards and national fellowships, a growing number of our students have been gaining high positions in the All India Services, Central Services, Defence, Central Police Forces and other Services.
The Governor said, “In the past year, our young boys and girls have won medals in various sports at National, Asian, Common Wealth and World Championships. And, more recently, one of our bright young girls from the Valley has made an excellent beginning in the cinema world. If the upcoming generation is to achieve its full potential, it is the responsibility of all the stakeholders to ensure that an undisturbed environment prevails in the State.”
Expressing grief over the loss of precious lives during the recent unrest in the Valley, the Governor said the hartals, which extended from week to week, caused large economic losses and particularly severe hardships for the daily wage earners. It also caused irreparable damage to the functioning of the educational system, besides disrupting studies of over 14 lakh schoolchildren and nearly a lakh college and university students, he added. On the development front, the Governor said that it is important to ensure that we don’t lose any further time in most efficiently utilising the Prime Minister’s Special Package of Rs. 80,000 crore. It would be of particular benefit to timely implement the infrastructure projects relating to the construction of roads, bridges, tunnels and highways for which there is an allocation of about Rs. 42,700 crore.
To meet the challenge of unemployment, the Governor said the state government has cleared various proposals in the past year, valuing over Rs. 2,500 crore for increasing the availability of jobs in the industrial sector. Adequate resources are also available for improving the productivity of the over 4 lakh artisans and weavers in our State, he stressed.
The Governor expressed satisfaction over the fact that the government is committed to conducting Panchayat elections by next March and establishing the 3-tier Panchayati Raj structure which has been functioning in the rest of the country for the past several decades now. He hoped that maximum number of voters would exercise their franchise in the forthcoming Panchayat and Municipal polls.
The Governor expressed gratitude towards Jammu and Kashmir Police, Central Armed Police Forces and the Army for their devotion and the sacrifices that they have been making to preserve the unity and the territorial integrity of our State. Considering the prevailing environment along our frontiers, our Security Forces shall need to enforce even greater vigil, he added.
On the eve of Republic Day, the Governor remembered and paid tribute to the great leaders who carried out a long struggle for liberating our country from the colonial yoke and securing freedom for our people.
