Srinagar, May 23
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today announced a Rs 6,165-crore economic package for the development of Jammu and Kashmir.Mr Vajpayee, addressing a press conference after his three-day visit to the state, assured the Centre’s full support for the development of the state.
The Prime Minister also announced a Rs 3600-crore 287-km railway project between Srinagar and Baramula. “The first train will run in the Kashmir valley on August 15, 2007,” he said.
The package also includes setting up of power projects, besides other infrastructural development in the state.
The entire amount will be spent on the development of Jammu and Kashmir, including the cost of construction of the Leh-Manali road, Mr Vajpayee said.
Regarding the serious power shortage being faced by the state, he said steps were being taken to overcome it and Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu would visit the state to discuss various projects.
In an effort to strengthen the security grid, he announced that two India Reserve Battalions would be raised over the next two years at a cost of Rs 26 crore and a provision of Rs 5 crore would be made over five years for better training and weaponry for the Jammu and Kashmir Volunteer Force, an elite group of special police officers (SPOs).
He said Rs 25 crore would be provided over the next five years for incentive schemes for 4,000 police personnel who were members of the Special Operations Group (SOG), adding that the government had decided to increase the ex-gratia payable to the next of kin of each SPO killed in action against terrorists from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
Mr Vajpayee, who met a cross-section of people of the state during his three-day tour, said “People in the state want speedy development. They are fed up with unemployment,”
“The government will make efforts to create new job opportunities”, he said.
On the Assembly elections due before October, the Prime Minister said “I have already announced and I will repeat that these will be free, fair and impartial.”
Mr Vajpayee said he was looking forward to the coming elections with the hope that they would help in improving the situation.
Mr Vajpayee said he had invited all parties, except the outlawed ones, to meet him. “I hope that the contact with those I met remains in place,” he said.
On Governor’s rule in the state to ensure free and fair elections, he said: “We promise free and fair poll but how it will be implemented will be decided later.”
On not meeting separatist leaders, he said: “If I could not meet any leader during this tour, I will
meet them next time or could meet them in Delhi”.On the autonomy resolution passed by the state Assembly, he said Home Minister L. K. Advani was dealing with the issue.
“We did not disregard the resolution without giving it a thought. We are ready to discuss it,” Mr Vajpayee said.
Meanwhile, senior separatist leader of Jammu and Kashmir rejected the economic package announced by Mr Vajpayee today, saying that it would not help in resolving the Kashmir issue.
Firebrand Jamaat-e-Islami leader and a former chairman of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, Mr Syed Ali Shah Geelani, said: “Economic packages will not help in resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Had it been a fight for economic packages, supreme sacrifices would not have been made by the people.”
Commenting on Mr Vajpayee’s rejection of involving Pakistan in a dialogue between separatist leaders and the Centre, Mr Geelani said “It is an unrealistic attitude not to involve Islamabad in the talks.”
PTI, UNI
