The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the development of J&K is turning into reality and work regarding the same is in full swing. The minister 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," the minister said.
While addressing media persons in Srinagar, Hardeep Singh 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 claimed that some 12 lakh LPG connections have been provided under the PM Ujjwala and 50,000 houses sanctioned under PMAY (U) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
"the petroleum prices have seen a sharp rise from July 2021 to August, 2022 with 43 percent to 46 percent increase in USA and Canada while India is the only country in the world where only 2 percent increase has been seen during that period. When many countries in the world are witnessing the shortage of fuel and exorbitant price rise, there is no shortage of fuel in India even in the remotest corners of the country," said Puri.