Jammu and Kashmir: PM Modi to visit Jammu on February 20

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], February 19 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu on February 20.

“At around 11:30 AM, in a public function at the Maulana Azad Stadium, Jammu, Prime Minister will inaugurate, dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth over Rs 30,500 crore. The projects relate to several sectors including health, education, rail, road, aviation, petroleum, civic infrastructure, among others,” as per a press release from the Prime Minister’s office.

During the programme Prime Minister will distribute appointment orders to about 1500 new Government recruits of Jammu and Kashmir. The Prime Minister will also interact with beneficiaries of various government schemes as part of the ‘Viksit Bharat Viksit Jammu’ programme.

“In a significant step towards upgrading and developing education and skilling infrastructure across the country, Prime Minister will inaugurate, dedicate to nation and lay the foundation stone of several projects’ worth about Rs 13,375 crore,” the release stated.

The projects which are dedicated to nation include permanent campus of IIT Bhilai, IIT Tirupati, IIT Jammu, IIITDM Kancheepuram; Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) – a pioneer skill training institute on advanced technologies – located at Kanpur; and two campuses of Central Sanskrit University – at Devprayag (Uttarakhand) and at Agartala (Tripura).

“Prime Minister will inaugurate three new IIMs in the country viz IIM Jammu, IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Visakhapatnam. He will also inaugurate 20 new buildings for Kendriya Vidyalaya (KVs) and 13 new Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) buildings across the country,” as per the release.

Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of five Kendriya Vidyalaya campuses, one Navodaya Vidyalaya campus and five Multipurpose Hall for Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country. These newly constructed KVs and NVs buildings will play an important role in meeting the educational needs of students across the country.

In a step that will provide comprehensive, quality and holistic tertiary care health services to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister will inaugurate All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Vijaypur (Samba), Jammu. The institute, whose foundational stone was also laid by the Prime Minister in February 2019, is being established under the Central sector scheme Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

“Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for a new terminal building at Jammu Airport. To be spread over 40,000 sqm area, the new terminal building will be equipped with modern facilities catering to about 2000 passengers during peak hours. The new terminal building will be environment friendly and will be built such that it showcases local culture of the region. It will strengthen air connectivity, boost tourism and trade and accelerate economic growth of the region,” the release stated.

The Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation various rail projects in Jammu & Kashmir including the new rail line between Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan (48 Km) and the newly electrified Baramulla-Sringar-Banihal-Sangaldan section (185.66 Km). Prime Minister will also flag off the first Electric Train in the valley and also train service between Sangaldan station & Baramulla station.

“The commissioning of the Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan section is significant as it features the usage of Ballast Less Track (BLT) all along the route providing a better riding experience to the passengers. Also, India’s longest transportation tunnel T-50 (12.77 Km) lies in this portion between Khari-Sumber. The rail projects will improve connectivity, ensure environmental sustainability and boost the overall economic development of the region,” as per the release.

During the programme, Prime Minister Modi will lay the foundation stone of important road projects including two packages (44.22 KM) of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway connecting Jammu to Katra; Phase two for four-laning of Srinagar Ring Road; five packages for upgrading the 161 km long Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri stretch of NH-01; and the construction of Kulgam Bypass & Pulwama bypass on NH-444.

“Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for a project to develop CUF (Common User Facility) Petroleum depot at Jammu. The state of art fully automated depot which will be developed at a cost of about Rs 677 crore, will have storage capacity of about 100000 KL for storing Motor Spirit (MS), High Speed Diesel (HSD), Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO), Aviation Turbine fuel (ATF), Ethanol, Bio diesel and winter grade HSD,” as per the release.

Prime Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several development projects worth more than Rs 3150 crore for strengthening the civic infrastructure and provisioning of public facilities across Jammu and Kashmir.

“The projects to be inaugurated by Prime Minister include, Road projects & Bridges; Grid Stations, receiving stations transmission line Projects; Common Effluent Treatment Plants and Sewage Treatment Plants; Several Degree College buildings; Intelligent Traffic Management system in Srinagar city; Modern Narwal Fruit Mandi; Drug Testing Laboratory at Kathua; and Transit accommodation – 224 flats at Ganderbal and Kupwara. The projects whose foundation stone will be laid include development of five new Industrial Estates across Jammu and Kashmir; Data Centre/ Disaster Recovery Centre for Integrated Command and Control Centre of Jammu Smart City; Up-gradation of Transport Nagar at Parimpora Srinagar; Up-gradation of 62 road projects and 42 bridges and project for development of transit accommodation – 2816 flats at nine locations in districts Anantnag, Kulgam, Kupwara, Shopian & Pulwama, among others,” the release stated.