Jammu: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the entire country was reeling under the shadow of pessimism and the common citizen had lost all hope before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014.
Singh said Prime Minister Modi-led government, however, changed the self-centred culture of the previous governments in the past 10 years to reach out to those who were needy regardless of whichever party they had voted for.
Addressing a public meeting at Machhedi in Bani tehsil of Kathua district – part of his Udhampur parliamentary constituency – the minister said the best way to appreciate 10 years of the Modi rule is to recall the scenario that existed earlier.
“When Modi took over as prime minister in 2014, the entire country was reeling under the shadow of pessimism and the common citizen had lost all hope. Today, even the people living in remote areas like here feel confident that their elected representatives sincerely care for them and are constantly working hard to get new projects for them,” he said.
Singh said this change has been possible because “we have the Modi government at the Centre”.
Referring to the Congress and the National Conference, the minister said the earlier governments had “deliberately neglected” remote areas of the Jammu region because of “vote bank considerations”.
“The elected representatives of these parties never wanted education or awareness to reach the people in remote areas so that, election after election, the people’s ignorance could be exploited to secure their vote,” he said.
Singh said the analysts will some day seek an answer as to why all the development that happened in the remote Machhedi and Bani area in the last 10 years could not happen in the earlier six decades.
The minister announced Rs 20 lakh for Machhedi from his MP fund, out of which Rs 10 lakh had already been allocated for a Community Hall.
Referring to the massive developments seen in the far-flung hilly regions like Machhedi and Bani, Singh said Modi had promised that he would raise the neglected and peripheral regions of the country to the same equal level as the more developed regions and he has succeeded in doing so.
“Bani, one of the most inaccessible regions in the Jammu division, had in the last 10 years received a network of roads through Central funds and new highways are under construction,” he said.
The minister said the Chhatargala Tunnel will provide all-weather road connectivity from Lakhanpur through Bani to Bhaderwah which will lead to ease of travel, generate employment opportunities and harness tourist potential of the region.
Singh said the Modi government also provided a level playing field to the aspirations of the youth from even the remotest area in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Reforms under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) such as abolition of interviews in public examination gave a fair chance to the youth from remotest hilly areas and poorest backgrounds to emerge successful,” he said.
Singh said the Bani region has locations as scenic as Kashmir Valley and added his aim is to bring it on the tourist map of the country by increasing road connectivity of the region.
