Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri, on Monday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the development of J&K is now turning into reality.
He stated that the PM’s development initiatives in J&K have created an emotional bond between the people and the country. “Central schemes directly benefit the people and I am glad that work is going on at the ground level,” he said.
Addressing media persons in Srinagar, Puri said people are investing in the economic development of J&K because of the central government’s ”farsighted” decision to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution.
”A new dawn of development is now set in the UT after the abrogation of Article 370 that could be judged from the fact that 25 new national highway projects have been sanctioned to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 11,721 crores, 168 MoUs have been signed worth Rs 13,600 crore, seven new medical colleges have been sanctioned with medical seats increasing from 500 to 955, the world’s highest railway bridge has been constructed in J&K, Vande Bharat Express is in operation from Jammu to Delhi and tourist footfall has increased to more than one lakh,” he said.
Puri further said that under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, some 12 lakh LPG connections have been provided under the PM Ujjwala and 50,000 houses sanctioned under PMAY (U).
The minister also said that petroleum prices have seen a sharp rise from July 2021 to August 2022 with 43 per cent to 46 per cent increase in the US and Canada and India is the only country that has witnessed just two per cent increase during that period.
While many countries in the world are witnessing a shortage of fuel and an exorbitant price rise, there is no shortage of fuel in India even in the remotest corners of the country, the minister added.