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| Shivratri greetings: Stay in Jammu, feel like Kashmir | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Mar 6
On earth, there cant be any replacement of a home, but on the eve of Shivratri, the Kashmiri Pandit migrants get the message that “stay in Jammu and feel like Kashmir”.
As Kashmiri Pandits are celebrating today Shivratri, their most important religious festival, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad chose the occasion to visit Jagti in Nagrota near here and inspect the pace of work on the State's biggest project in housing sector fast coming up as a township for the members of the community who migrated from Kashmir in the wake of militancy and were lodged in migrant camps.
The foundation stone of the Rs. 294 crore all-facility township was laid by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh in July last while actual construction work started in October 2007. In all, 178 three-storey blocks comprising 4228 two-room tenements are being constructed here, the work on which is going in full swing and on schedule. Most of the blocks have come up to the second storey level. The mega project is targeted to complete in September 2009.
The upcoming township, spread over an area of 716 kanals of land and stretched over 2.25 kms, is surrounded by small hills while a river flows in the foot giving the place ambience of Kashmir. The site was chosen by the Chief Minister himself to give the township dwellers the feel of the Valley. He has been personally supervising the project and taking keen interest in its early completion. He has already passed on instructions for plantation of the area and improvement of the landscape. A major sewerage plant is a component of the project while a 2.5 km road and a bridge connecting the township with Nagrota would also be constructed.
The Chief Minister walked the entire length of the project site in heat and dust and inspected work on each block. He interacted with concerned officials, project executing engineers and contractors and sought information from them about various components of the project. He was accompanied by Advisor to Chief Minister, Janak Raj Gupta, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sudhanshu Pandey and other senior officers. He also met people of the local village, Jagdamba, heard them and assured that their grievances would be addressed adequately. He promised anganwari and knitting centres for the village and exploring possibilities of recruitment of local youth in police.
"About 20,000 people will be housed in the township, making it as populated as many of our district headquarters", Azad told media persons who accompanied him on the visit today. He said while the township was the Prime Minister's package, the State government will construct roads, hospitals, dispensaries and schools for the inmates. He said the place will be an all-facility location.
The Chief Minister said the Jagti township would emerge as a unique example of integration of the two provinces of the State as the beneficiaries were Kashmiris and the project was in Jammu. He said all of us want that Kashmiri migrants should return with honour to their homes and hearths in the Valley but till such time they are convinced and feel safe to return, the Jagti township and other residential accommodations being built here for the migrants are aimed at providing the camp dwellers better amenities. |
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