Srinagar, Mar 22: The Union Government has taken several steps to boost the development of Jammu and Kashmir, Ministry of Home affairs said on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question of Parliamentarian Kunwar Danish Ali, “What efforts are being made the government for the all round development of J&K?” Minister of State (Home) Nityanand Rai said that various steps are being taken for development of J&K which include identification of over 26,000 posts, taking up of 21 hydro power projects, starting of international flights at Srinagar airport, etc.

“The progress of projects being implemented in the Union Territory (UT) of J&K under the Prime Minister’s Development Package-2015 has been accelerated. 53 projects pertaining to 15 Ministries are being implemented at a cost of Rs 58,477 crore in various sectors such as Roads, Power, Health, Education, Tourism, Agriculture, Skill Development etc., out of which 25 projects have been completed/substantially completed,” Rai said.

He added that a New Central Sector Scheme has been notified on 19/02/2021 for the Industrial Development of the UT of J&K, with an outlay of Rs 28,400 crore, which is likely to provide employment to over 4.5 lakh people while boosting the industrial development of J&K.

“The Government of J&K has approved a business revival package of Rs 1,352.99 crore on 25th September, 2020,” he said.

“Under languishing projects programme, 1,193 projects worth Rs.1,984 crore were completed, including 5 projects which were incomplete for more than 20 years, 15 projects for more than 15 years and 165 projects for more than 10 years,” he stated.

“J&K has been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) under Swachh Bharat Mission. 100 percent saturation has been achieved in 17 Individual beneficiary centric schemes, including Saubhagya, Ujala, Ujjwala and Indradhanush schemes,” he added further.

“During the year 2020-21, 1,289 road construction works were completed at a cost of Rs 1,638 crore. The construction work of 14,500 km of roads has been completed so far under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, which has connected about 2,000 places,” he said.

“Work has been taken up for setting up of one All India Institute of Medical Sciences each in J&K Divisions at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore each, besides 7 other medical colleges in the UT of J&K. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu have been made functional,” Rai said.

“21 hydro power projects with aggregate capacity of 5,186 MW have been taken up for development in next five years. An international flight from Srinagar to Sharjah has been started on 23.10.2021. In addition, night flights from Jammu and Srinagar have also been started,” he added further.

“The scope of High Density Plantation Scheme for Apple has been expanded to include Mango, Litchi, Cherry, Walnut etc. Kashmiri Saffron has been given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag,” He stated.

“Under fast-track recruitment, 26,330 posts have been identified in various departments in the UT of J&K and taken up for recruitment. Presently selection process has been completed with respect to 11,324 posts,” he said. kno