Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday waived off Jammu and Kashmir’s Rs. 60-crore liability towards the Food Corporation of India and announced a special Central assistance of Rs. 8,000 crore for four major road projects.
At a well-attended public meeting at the Leh Polo Ground, Mr. Modi said while all four projects were conceived by the previous UPA government, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not provide the funds. He said his Cabinet would soon consider full funding of Rs. 8,000 crore for the projects.
Listing ‘Prakash’ (energy), ‘Paryavaran’ (ecology) and ‘Paryatan’ (tourism) as development boosters the State needs, Mr. Modi said the development of J&K was a top priority for his government. “Previously, Central Ministers would seldom visit. Look, here’s a Prime Minister visiting twice within a month,” he added. Mr. Modi also inaugurated two power projects — at Nemo Bazgo in Leh and at Chutak in Kargil — besides laying the foundation stone of a Rs 1,788-cr transmission line that would connect entire Ladakh region to the northern grid via Srinagar and Drass.
