Jammu, July 14: The Narendera Modi lead NDA government seems in a serious mood to integrate Jammu and Kashmir completely with rest of India through political initiatives and economic advancements like ambitious road network plan and tourism promotion etc to deliver what Modi had promised to the people here.
However a million dollar question arises whether the new schemes by the new government will actually be implemented on ground or they will meet the same fate as that of earlier version of the NDA where numerous schemes never saw the light of the day due to bureaucratic lethargy and political rivalries.
While the focus that the Modi lead NDA government is laying on J&K is a welcome step and the government also seems serious but what the powers that be must ensure is that the schemes need to come with a speed tag and all the projects announced must also announce the deadlines and punishments together for not meeting the deadlines.
The road network that the Modi government is planning in J&K will surely go a long way in integrating Jammu and Kashmir with rest of India particularly Kashmir valley and Ladakh that mostly remain cut off during the winter season and require all weather roads.
If the statements of Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari are taken on the face value then J&K is going to witness a new boom in road connectivity as rupees 25000 crore are being spent to enhance the roads in the state during the current year.
Gadkari had said a day before at the ‘final blast’ ceremony of Rs 3,720 crore Chenani-Nashri road tunnel project providing all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Srinagar that “Narendra Modi-government is committed to doing more work in 5 years in the state to bolster its economic growth then what was done in last 50 years and we will do projects worth Rs 25,000 crore this year,”
This is indeed a positive development for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir as the minister has also assured that to fast track the road projects in the country an ambitious target of building 30 kms of roads per day has been set for the companies constructing the roads in the country which means majority of the works will be complete within next five years.
However what worries the people of J&K is that many such proposals have been offered to them for the past six decades with the old projects getting abandoned with the takeover by the new government.
It is therefore normal for the residents of the state to view every ambitious project with some suspicion and demand transparency and speed.
The positive side to these developments however is that the state and the centre is ruled by the same party even though in coalition and one can only hope that the dreams that are being sold to the people of Jammu and Kashmir are translated into reality by the Modi government so that people here start believing the promises and actions of New Delhi as the lack of trust has always been projected as the major impediment in upheavals in the state.
It will be therefore in the fitness of things that the state government works in tandem with the central government to get maximum benefit from the centre at a time when the central government is more than eager to help us out so that a new and developed J&K is built and energy is focused on the progress of the state rather than wasting it on political rhetoric.
However as they say no one knows what the destiny has in store and we shall keep our fingers crossed hoping the new political wave that has swept the country and the state brings with it a people centric politics for a peaceful and progressive J&K.