Avtar Bhat
KATHUA, June 26: Union Minister of Road Transport Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari today laid the foundation stone of Rs 158.84 crore, Keerian-Gandial bridge over river Ravi here today.
Union Minister of State in PMO with Independent Charge of North Eastern States, Dr Jitendra Singh was chief guest. Minister of Public Works, Floriculture, Gardens and Parks Syed Altaf Bukhari and MoS R&B and Revenue, Sunil Kumar Sharma were also present on the occasion.
The 1210 span two lane bridge will be first of its kind in the State linking secluded areas of district Kathua across Ravi with the State besides shortening 45 kilometre distance with Punjab and also decreasing the heavy rush of traffic on Jammu-Pathankote National Highway.
Addressing a mammoth public rally after laying the foundation stone of the bridge, Mr Gadkari said that credit for getting this bridge sanctioned goes to Dr Jitendra Singh and added that development and prosperity is not possible without a good network of roads.
Quoting former US President, John Kennedy who had said “American roads are not good because America is rich but America is rich because its roads are good” , he said in last 65 years no proper attention was paid to development by the Congress which ruled the nation. Most villages were de-linked because they had no roads, he added.
The credit of linking the villages with rest of the country goes to former Prime Minister and veteran BJP leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee who started PM’s Gramin Sadak Yojna during his tenure as PM, he said, adding if any leader joined 1,70,000 villages in the country, he is Mr Vajpayee.
Making a scathing attack on the Congress, Mr Gadkari said the Congress never talked of development during its rule. The condition was so bad in the country that schools had no buildings and where buildings were constructed there were no teachers. Same was the condition of hospitals etc, he added.
He gave credit to Dr Jitendra Singh for laying foundation stone of the bridge and getting the project sanctioned form his Ministry saying that he vigorously pursued the project in the Ministry.
Accusing the Congress of dividing the people of the country on the name of communalism and casteism, he said the Party created a fear psychosis among the minorities of this country that if BJP comes to power they would be put to problems. “It spilled venom against BJP in the minds of minorities which was totally baseless”, he added.
Mr Gadkari, however, asserted that the BJP led Government at Centre is pledged to do no communal and caste based politics and it is wedded to the slogan “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”.
Assuring full support to the State Government in development, Mr Gadkari said that more developmental works than that which were undertaken in last 25 years would be undertaken in five years by this Government. He said Rs 150 crore CRF was increased by Rs 1000 crore for the State by his Ministry to take it on the path of development. “Modi Government is ready to give as much assistance to the State for development which it has never got in the past”, he added.
He urged the R&B Minister , Mr Bukhari to take full advantage of the liberal assistance of the Centre and start the construction of roads from this money to remove poverty in the State. The Union Minister said the Central Government led by BJP wanted a change for better, remove poverty, unemployment and wanted overall development of the State.
He also announced four lanning of much talked about Jammu-Akhnoor road and with this a long dream of Jammuites will come true. “During my next visit to the State I will lay foundation stone of this road also as the Central Government has given clearance for its widening, he added.
He said the MP from Jammu-Poonch Constituency, Jugal Kishore Sharma was hard pressing him for widening of Akhnoor road and soon its work will begin.
He also announced that this will be followed by four lanning of Jammu -Poonch road to improve the road connectivity in the State. Parimpora road in Srinagar will also be widened, he announced. He, however, asked the State Government to quicken the land acquisition process for these projects.
Mr Gadkari said that the MP from Ladakh is also pressing hard for construction of two tunnels in the region as early as possible so that the Ladakh region remains connected through surface transport throughout the year.
The Minister while expressing his serious concern over the floods in Kashmir said the Centre is ready to extend full help for the de-silting and widening of these rivers to save the Valley from flood fury in future.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the bridge was a long pending demand of the people of Kathua district and he had made a promise to them during his election campaign.
He said though he pursued the construction of this bridge from the very first day he attained the office as Union Minister and the first work he took up in hand was that he raised this demand before Mr Gadkari.
He said the foundation stone of the bridge was to be laid in September last year but due to floods in the State it was postponed. Later, again the programme was postponed due to Code of Conduct and in February this year when programem for laying the foundation stone was chalked out, it was again postponed as Mr Gadkari was preoccupied with some other task at that time.
Terming June 26 a great day in history of the Kathua, he said a long dream of the people of the district has come true. He said on this day 40 years back the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country to become an authoritarian ruler and BJP led Government in the Centre on this day today laid the foundation of the bridge to fulfill the aspirations and expectations of the masses which they had from a democratically elected Government.
Dr Singh said this bridge has an interesting story as people of Kathua had to go in their State via other State. This was the same story as of Bengal and Bengladesh, he added.
He said Kathua is a Kandi belt and this inter State bridge will be a boon for the development for the area. He also highlighted the major steps for the development of the State in general and his constituency in particular taken by Modi led Government included laying of foundation stone of Bio-Tech Park at Ghatti Kathua which will be topmost biotech park of North India. On the same pattern another park will be developed in Kashmir valley, he added.
He said the Arogya Gram Yojna for cultivation of medicine and aromatic plants was started from Kathua, Weather Forecasting Station was established at Katra, provision for setting up of 15 FM Radio Channel was kept in budget, 80 kanals of land was earmarked for allotment of five marlas plots to border people in Hiranagar, SPOs and VDCs emoluments were doubled. Though arrears could not be paid to them due to paucity of funds with State Government and now the issue has been taken up with Finance Ministry which will provide the funds for the same. He said, the halting station of Hemkund Express will continue to remain at Hiranagar and Rs 34 lakh were allocated from his MP LAD Fund for providing benches at Kathua and Udhampur Railway Stations for passengers.
Dr Singh said he has also taken up the issue of upgradation of KV Kathua with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and same will also be done soon.
Giving credit to his Party activists, the Union Minister said the project report of the bridge was framed by them with the engineers of R&B.
He also urged the officers to cooperate with the BJP activists for developmental purpose of the State. Maintaining though lot of work was done during Modi Government’s first year in office, he said the pace will increase in next year as during the first year the Government remained pre-occupied in clearing the old baggage.
He also announced that work on Nagri-Palli road will also be started soon and the project report of Jothana bridge was also ready. The work on Dayala Chak road has been started and announced that people of the region are looking towards PM for removal of discrimination they were subjected to for years together.
In his address, Minister of R&B Altaf Bukhari said that the Government will try its best to complete the Keerian -Gandail bridge before three years -the official time of its completion. He also complimented Mr Gadkari for enhancing CRF for the State and expressed the hope that the funding for other projects will also be released on the same pattern. He also complimented Dr Jitendra Singh with whose efforts the work on the bridge has been started.
Earlier, MLA Kathua Rajiv Jasrotia in his welcome address gave full credit for the bridge to Dr Jitendra Singh and demanded that the other roads be also taken up in hand.
The function was also attended by BJP State president and MP Jugal Kishore Sharma Party MP (RS) Shamsher Singh Manhas and MLA Hiranagar Kuldeep Kumar.
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