Union ministers to visit J&K, nearly 6 months after abrogation of Article 370

Members of the Union Council of Ministers will visit Jammu and Kashmir later this week in order to spread word about government policies "particularly in the last five months after the abrogation of Article 370".

This is the first visit by union ministers since the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The ministers have been requested to "educate people about the schemes/projects being implemented/to be implemented by their ministry in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir."

In a letter sent to state Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Minister of State for Home Affairs, G Krishan Reddy said, "Hon'ble Minister Shri Amit Shah ji has desired that all members of the Union Council of Minister pay a visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with the objective of disseminating information about the importance of the Government policies with regard to the overall development of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and its people along with the steps taken by the government of India in this direction particularly in the last 5 months after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories."

The Union ministers will visit different districts in both the divisions of the UT starting January 18 to January 24 over the period of a week.

The MoS (Home) will be travelling himself to the Ganderbal town on January 22 and Manigam on January 23. Union minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad will visit Sopore in Baramulla district on January 24. Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani is slated to visit Katra and Panthal areas of the Reasi district on January 19. Gen VK Singh (retd) is scheduled to visit Tikri in Udhampur of January 20 while Kiren Rijiju will visit Suchetgarh in Jammu the next day. Minister RK Singh will visit Khellani in Doda district and Shripad Nayak will hold a meeting at SKICC in Srinagar.

According to the letter received by the government, the ministers have been sent "background material" about the developmental activities "through email".

Anurag Thakur, Giriraj Singh, Prahlad Joshi, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Renuka Singh, Jitendra Singh and Piyush Goyal are among the other ministers who will visit different districts during the period.

(INPuts and image from The Indian Express)