Bani (Jammu): Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here Monday Congress and National Conference governments in the past had deliberately neglected remote areas of the Jammu region because of vote bank considerations. He said, the elected representatives of these parties never wanted education or awareness to reach the people in remote areas so that, election after election, the people’s ignorance could be exploited to secure their vote.
Addressing a mammoth public rally in this remote area, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed this self-centred culture to reach out to those who were needy, regardless of whichever party they had voted for. He said, some day, analysts will seek an answer as to why all the development that happened in remote Bani area in the last eight years, could not happen in the earlier six decades.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the best way to appreciate 8 years of the Modi rule is to recall the scenario that existed in the 8 years prior to that. When Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014, the entire country was reeling under the shadow of pessimism and the common citizen had lost all hope in the din of mega scams and scandals involving Ministers and functionaries at high places, he said and added that Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister of India in the evening of 26 May 2014 marked the beginning of the nation’s journey from pessimism to optimism.
Today, even people living in remote areas like here feel confident that their elected representatives sincerely care for them and are constantly working hard to get new projects for them, said Dr Jitendra Singh. This change has been possible because we have the Modi government at the Centre, he added.
Referring to the massive developments seen in the far flung hilly regions like Bani, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Modi had promised that he would raise the neglected and peripheral regions of the country to the same equal level as the more developed regions and he has succeeded in doing so. He said, Bani which was one of the most inaccessible regions in the Jammu division, had in the last 8 years received a network of roads through Central funds and new Highways are under construction.
Accusing the earlier governments of deliberately neglecting the far flung hilly regions, Dr Jitendra Singh said, perhaps the motive was that the people living in these remote areas should remain perpetually deprived of the opportunities unfolding in the rest of the world so that their ignorance could be exploited to extract their votes, election after election. To that extent, he praised Modi for introducing the new work style and reaching out to those who were most needy, regardless of whichever political party they voted for.
Many of the national projects in the region, said Dr Jitendra Singh, have been possible because of the personal indulgence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this regard, he referred to the Chattergala Tunnel which will be a part of the new National Highway from Lakhanpur to Basohli-Bani to Doda, thus offering an alternate all-weather and less time consuming road connectivity.
The Minister informed that the BRO agency Beacons has already prepared the DPR for Chattergala Tunnel which is estimated to cost Rs.4,000 crores. He said, he has requested Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to include it in the next plan of Bharatmala-scheme.
Dr Jitendra Singh also referred to the new Kendriya Vidyalaya sanctioned for Bani and said the construction work on the crucial motorable road between Bilawar and Bani will be proceeded on fast track because it had got delayed on account of certain technical reasons and the COVID pandemic.
Former MLA Bani Jagjivan Lal, DDC Chairman Col (Retd) Bhan Singh and veteran BJP leader Uttam Goswami also spoke on the occasion. They profusely appreciated the dedicated hard work by Dr Jitendra Singh which had changed the face of Bani. They said, the development seen in the last 8 years far exceeded that of the the earlier over 60 years.
