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Prime Minister in Jammu and Kashmir today, the first formal program after the end of the special status: 10 facts

April 24, 2022
Sezarr

PM Modi to preside over a function to mark Panchayati Raj (FILE)

Srinagar:
Two years after the Center accorded special status to the state and bifurcated it into two union territories, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold his first public event in Jammu and Kashmir today.

Here are the top 10 points of this big story:

  1. Tight security arrangements are being made for PM Modi’s visit. A huge reception is expected in the parish, with thousands waiting to welcome him at an event organized by the BJP in the Jammu region.

  2. PM Modi will preside over a function to mark Panchayati Raj – a day that celebrates grassroots democracy

  3. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha told reporters that in today’s program PM Modi will take the region to “a new era of development”.

  4. Today’s event will be PM Modi’s first formal public appearance in J&K since August 2019, though PM Modi has made informal visits to celebrate the festival with troops deployed along the Line of Control.

  5. The Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore, including the inauguration of the Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel for all-weather connectivity between the two regions of the Union Territory.

  6. He will celebrate National Panchayati Raj Day and address gram sabhas across the country, the Prime Minister’s Office, or PMO, said in a statement.

  7. The PMO said that PM Modi will launch an initiative named ‘Amrit Sarovar’ for the development and rejuvenation of 75 water bodies in every district of the country.

  8. The Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel, built at a cost of over Rs 3,100 crore, is 8.45 km long and will reduce the road distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 km and travel time by about one-half hour.

  9. It is a twin-tube tunnel, one for each direction of travel, and the tubes are interconnected by a cross passage every 500 m for maintenance and emergency evacuation.

  10. Among other projects, PM Modi will lay the foundation stone for the 850 MW Ratle and Kwar hydroelectric projects to be built on the Chenab river in Kishtwar at a cost of around Rs 5,300 crore. He will also lay the foundation stone for the 540 MW Kwar hydroelectric project to be built on the same river at a cost of over Rs 4,500 crore. Interestingly, this is the second time the foundation stone of the Ratle project is being laid. In 2013, the then PM Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone of this project.