Owais Gul
Srinagar, Jun 24: Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday said that the Omar Abdullah-led government is putting all possible efforts to ensure restoration of statehood and special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
He also appealed to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to approve and send the copy of business rules.
Addressing a press conference here, the Deputy Chief Minister expressed gratitude to PM Modi, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for the approval of 19 key road and tunnel projects worth Rs 10.637 crore for Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief Minister, according to him, has managed to secure the 316 projects under PMGSY for J&K with his dedicated efforts. He said now 19 key projects have been approved by the Centre after hectic efforts by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
“In 8 months of our tenure, the Chief Minister after visiting Delhi multiple times has succeeded in getting the approval for these key projects. He is not among the Chief Ministers who visited Delhi for downgrading of erstwhile J&K state to Union Territory. The approval of these projects shows his (CM’s) seriousness,” he said.
He said the government is putting sincere efforts to ensure the restoration of statehood and J&K’s special status.
He also lashed out at the BJP, stating that none among them has won recent assembly elections on their own. “The narco test of all the BJP MLAs including the Leader of Opposition needs to be conducted to ascertain the veracity of their statements,” he said.
Also, the Deputy Chief Minister appealed to the Lieutenant Governor to send the copy of business rules pending with him. “Despite Delhi being so far from us, it has provided us with key projects. “You (LG) are our neighbour and we expect and hope that the business rules will be approved and sent to us back,” he said.
Reacting to demands for bunkers in border areas, he said the approval has to be given by the Centre. “We hope it will be done shortly,” he said, adding that as witnessed in the ‘Operation Sindoor’, Jammu and Srinagar also felt the impact, thus the need for such bunkers is not confined to border areas only.
Expressing gratitude to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Nitin Gadakari for approval of key projects, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the long pending demands of people from Chenab and Sadhna Top have been fulfilled. “Not even a single promise will remain unfilled. We have been elected for the period of five years and all the promises including the tunnel for Gurez will also be fulfilled in the next few years,” he said.
Choudhary, replying to a query, said that the gap of ten years cannot be filled in one night, saying that it takes some time to fill the gap.
About the macadamization, he said that the process has already been started.
On the students stuck in Iran, he said that some of the students are stranded there, but the efforts are being made to ensure their safe return. (KNO)
