Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday that the Congress and its allies had sabotaged Jammu’s important national projects, including the Shahpur-Kandi project and the Ujh Multipurpose Project, which would have irrigated the entire belt of parched land along the Samba, Kathua, and parts of Jammu districts. Both these projects were activated only after the Modi government took over in 2014, he said.

The minister further alleged that the Congress also denied 4% reservation to the people living along the International Border in this region.

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Addressing public meetings at different places in Samba district under the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, which is going to polls on 26 April, Dr Jitendra Singh, while campaigning in support of BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma, said that the 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 Jitendra Singh recalled that way back in 1960, the Indus Water Treaty was finalised between India and Pakistan by 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 the Shahpur-Kandi Dam, he said, India was to utilise its share of water from the Ravi river for irrigating 3,500 to 4,000 hectares of land in the border districts of Samba and Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir as well as Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts in Punjab.

While the Punjab government was forthcoming in cooperating to set up this project, the successive governments in Jammu & Kashmir avoided it on one pretext or the other until Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014 and the project was revived, he added.

Similarly, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Congress and its allies had denied 4% 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 Jitendra Singh further said that 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 & Kashmir.

The minister said that this entire belt has been traditionally known to be inhabited by the marshal race and the youth of this area were always known for their valour and bravery in 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.