Jammu Kashmir: 70 Union Ministers to arrive on 9-week long public outreach programme

Schedule of visit yet to be released; programme likely to begin on September 10 with eight ministers visiting the Union Territory every week; during the programme ministers will interact with the people, administration and representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions

Srinagar (Jammu- Kashmir): As many as 70 Union Ministers will start a 9-week long Public Outreach Programme-II in Jammu and Kashmir with eight ministers visiting the Union Territory every week beginning September 10. During this time the ministers will interact with the people, administration and representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) among others. The team of ministers would take note of the issues faced by them and addresses whichever is in their domain, while forwarding the rest in comprehensive reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh, who is the lone Union Minister from the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, is coordinating with the Union Home Ministry in finalising schedule about visits of the ministers to the Union Territory. “The schedule is likely to be released in the next few days,” sources said.

As per the tentative proposal, eight Ministers will visit the Union Territory every week, four each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions.

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Senior Cabinet Ministers will also be part of the outreach programme but their visits will be finalised depending on their schedule. Some of the ministers, who were inducted into the Council of Ministry in a major reshuffle carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July this year, will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after taking over the new responsibility.

“Tours of some of the Ministers will be area-specific,” they said, adding that Ministers for Agriculture will tour areas of farming while the Rural Development Department and Urban Development Department Ministers will be visiting rural and urban and semi-urban areas respectively. It will be the endeavour of the Central Government to cover almost all tehsils if not blocks by the visiting Ministers so that people could directly raise their issues with them.