Sajad Lone Meets PM Narendra Modi.Demands Smart City For Srinagar, Rehabilitation Of Flood Victims.Sajad Lone, Chairman J&K People’s Conference today held a meeting with the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in Delhi. The meeting was held in a very cordial and receptive atmosphere. The main agenda of the meeting was an exchange of ideas on theways and means of developing the state to its full potential. A series of issues were discussed however the main focus remained the recent floods in Kashmir and the need forswift and concrete efforts towards relief and rehabilitation in its wake. Lone underscored the need to seize the recent adversity as an opportunity and work towards the development of Kashmir as one of the most beautiful places in the world and a premiere global tourist destination. He also added howit was a unique opportunity to develop Kashmir as the prototype of a Smart City. The PM responded very positively both to the concept of Smart City and that of tourist destination by drawing parallels with the region of Kutch (Gujrat) which too had undergone a disastrous earthquake some years back and had now been transformed into a leading tourist hub.The immediate challenge however was identified as the need to redress the huge losses suffered across the various sectors inthe recent floods including public infrastructure,damaged dwellings, business losses, agricultural and horticultural losses etc. While paying tributes to the local youth who played a key role in mitigating the lossesespecially that of life , Lone stressed upon the need to reinforce the local effort by pooling in talent from across India and evolving a scientific plan to develop Kashmir, an intrinsic element of which should be robust mechanisms to avert future such catastrophes.Lone also re-iterated the long term development of the state. In this regard he pointed out the need to leverage the state’s natural assets and resources and to cultivatethem towards the development of the state – a forerunner being the tourism sector given Kashmir’s unparalleled scenic beauty. He also pointed out the need for uniform development, especially of those regions which had hitherto remained eclipsed from the limited development that did take place inthe state. He stressed how these area’s need to be developed by better connectivity through an interlinking network of trade, travel and tourism corridors. Lone also brought the plight of the northern border region of Kupwara and Baramulla to the PM’snotice and the need for alleviating the hardships of this sensitive region. In this regard he put forward a series of suggestions. This included foremost the construction of a 6 lane expressway from Srinagar to Kupwara in a bid to bridge the difference of both distance and opportunities. Other suggestions included access to opportunities such as Health facilities in the form of Medical College complete with a functioning hospital and Research facilities, educational facilities: Central University etc. He also identified the enormous scope for tourism in the area suchas in the little known and presently inaccessible area’s of the Bangus and LolaabValleys, LoC tourism and eco-tourism. He also requested the PM to look into the possibility of special recruitment for disadvantaged people from the hilly and border regions in the quota for central jobs. He also requested the PM to look into the expedition of the railway network being extended to Kupwara while also undertaking the construction of a tunnel to the border outpost of Karnah. The meeting ended on a positive and reciprocating note.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 04:07:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015