Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said situation in the State has improved a lot as violence has come down significantly. She said this after holding an hour-long meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, three days after the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau director Dineshwar Sharma as the special representative who will hold talks with all stakeholders in the State. Sharma met Mehbooba later in the day.
“Situation in Jammu & Kashmir has improved as violence has come down a lot,” she told reporters here. The chief minister said she discussed with the Home Minister on the announcement of a special representative for Jammu and Kashmir, security situation in the State and various development issues.
Mehbooba said a detailed discussion was also held on the Rs 80,000 crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. She also said that allotment of Government jobs to Kashmir pundits would also be sorted out after settling the legal issues.
"Funds are getting released and many development works are going on. Works on AIIMS in the State is also going on," she said.
In a statement, the Home Ministry said the Government has decided for fast track the projects under Prime Minister's development package (PMDP) by making encumbrance free land available for the infrastructure projects including road, power and health etc. Under the Prime Ministers' development package for Jammu and Kashmir (Rs 80,068 crore) for 63 major projects pertaining to 15 Central Government ministries, an amount of Rs 62,599 crore (approximately 78 per cent) has been sanctioned and an amount of Rs 22,042 crore (approximately 28 per cent) has been released.
Special emphasis will be given for development of border areas (0-10 km) while selecting projects under the Border Area Development Program (BADP). It was also decided that to ensure safety of these people in border areas, construction of bunkers along the border will be expedited, the statement said.
It was also decided to accelerate the development projects relating to additional jobs to Kashmiri migrants, transit accommodations, transfer of cash relief and honorarium through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode and providing employment to youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
Apart from the Home Minister and the Chief Minister, senior officials of the Home Ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir Government attended the meeting, which lasted for about 45 minutes. Singh and Mehbooba later had a one-on-one meeting for about 15 minutes.
The meeting of the state Chief Minister with the Union Home Minister took place in the backdrop of a new initiative by the centre towards reconciliation in the J & K , particularly in the Kashmir valley.
Sharma, an old hand in the Kashmir affair, would be the new interlocutor who would re-start the process of dialogue among the various stake holders in the peace and stability of the border State.
All the opposition parties, including the Congress, have welcomed the Government decision and evinced interest in participating in the peace initiative.
Even as the Government seeks to break new ground in the Kashmir, Army Chief has said that there would be no let up in the operations of security forces against terrorists in the valley. Security forces have for past several months stepped up their targeted operations against infiltrations and gained good success in eliminating key military commanders of many Pak-controlled terrorist groups.