Jammu : Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said that Congress and its allies had sabotaged Jammu’s important national projects including Shahpur-Kandi project and Ujh Multipurpose Project which would have irrigated the entire belt of dry land along Samba, Kathua and part of Jammu districts. Both these projects could get activated only after the Modi Govt took over in 2014. Not only this, the Minister alleged, Congress also denied 4 percent reservation to the people living along the International Border (IB) of this region.
Addressing public meetings at different locations in district Samba, which is going to poll on April 26th, Dr Singh while campaigning in support of BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma said, Congress and its allied governments have not only caused damage to the Kandi areas of Samba and Kathua by denying them their due but had also gone to the extent of working against the national interest just to appease certain sections by following an approach of regional discrimination.
Elaborating further, Dr Singh recalled that way back in 1960 the Indus Water Treaty was finalised between India and Pakistan by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan, as a result of which, the three major river waters that India was to share happened to be Ravi, Satluj and Beas.
By constructing Shahpur-Kandi Dam, he said, India was to utilise the her share of water from river Ravi for irrigating 3500 to 4000 hectares of land in Samba and Kathua border districts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts of Punjab.
While the Punjab government was forthcoming in cooperating to set up this project, the successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir avoided it on one pretext or the other till Prime Minister Narenda Modi took over in 2014 and the project was revived, he added.
Similarly, Dr. Singh said, Congress and its allies had denied 4 percent of reservation to the youth living along the International Border of Samba while allowing the same to the youth along the LoC, simply because of vote bank politics. This anomaly, he said, was also undone after Prime Minister Modi took over. Dr. Singh said, with the new industry coming up in Samba and the surrounding regions, the entire belt from Kathua to Samba holds the potential to emerge as a major recruitment and training centre of North India particularly because of its connection with three territories mainly Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that this entire belt has been traditionally known to be inhabited by marshal race and the youth of this area were always known for their valour and bravery in the Armed Forces, both before independence and afterwards.
But, unfortunately, again it was the Congress government which cancelled the Dogra certificate and denied the youth of this region the opportunities of recruitment in the Armed Forces.
Dr. Singh recalled the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Udhampur rally where he had said that what has happened in the last ten years is just a trailer and that much more is in store to happen in the next five years.
In the context of this region, he said, the earlier ten years were spent in making up for the lapses of the past, but the next five years are going to throw up this region as a frontline runner in India’s growth story.
