The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep S Puri on Monday (14 November) said that the Prime Minister’s commitment to the development of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is turning into reality and work regarding the same is in full swing.

The minister visited Srinagar and reviewed the progress of work on various development projects and work done as per government schemes.

Addressing the media persons, Puri said people are investing in the economic development in the Union Territory of J&K because of the Central Government’s decision to remove the bottleneck of Article 370 and 35A.

“A new dawn of development is now set in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 that could be judged from the fact that 25 new National Highway Projects have been sanctioned to be built at an estimated cost of 11,721 crore,” the minister said.

“168 MoUs have been signed amounting to 13,600 crore, seven new medical colleges have been sanctioned with medical seats increasing from 500 to 955, world’s highest railway bridge constructed in J&K, Vande Bharat Express is in operation from Jammu to Delhi and tourist footfall increased to more than one lakh,” he added.

Puri further said that under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, some 12 lakh LPG connections have been provided under PM Ujjwala and 50,000 houses have been sanctioned under PM Awas Yojana (Urban).

During the review meeting, the minister said that application of modern technology to solid waste management is the need of the hour and Srinagar will be among the cities where such strategies will be adopted on a priority basis.

He said that there is a need to process the waste as per modern standards to avoid dumping it at one location, which is hazardous to the ecosystem.