Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, today conducted tour of District Udhampur.DDC Chairperson, Udhampur Lal Chand, DDC Chairperson, Reasi Saraf Singh Nag, Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur Indu Kanwal Chib, SSP, Sargun Shukla, Chief Engineer, PWD (R&B ) Manzoor Hussain, President MC, Dr Jogeshwar Gupta, BDCs, DDCs besides Ex- Legislatures, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Ajay Nanda , District officers and general public of the District were present.After the field visit, Union Minister also paid obeisance at the historic ancient temple at Devika ghat and prayed for peace and prosperity of the UT.Earlier, the Union Minister also visited Newly sanctioned Medical College site and enquired about the status of execution work of medical college. During his visit, Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized upon the concerned departments dealing with the construction of GMC to start the work without any delay so that the classes could commence from the next year onwards.Dr Jitendra Singh also pointed out that Udhampur Parliamentary constituency is the only one in the country which has got three Medical Colleges from Central grant.Dr. Jitendra Singh also visited the grand festive event “Nadhi Utsav” today which was held at the bank of holy bank of river Devika in Udhampur and participated in Devika Aarti at holy Devika ghat wherein Devitees had lineup along the bank. The Aarti was performed in a synchronized rhythm to the tune of maha mantras.On reaching at Devika ghat, the Union Minister also inaugurated various development works of Devika Ghat and interacted with PRIs and general public. The Union Minister along with DDC Chairpersons took a round and inspected the stalls set up by various departments for disseminating information about various welfare and other schemes launched by the GOI. He interacted with the officers and reviewed the progress of these schemes on ground.While addressing the gathering, the Union Minister said, river Devika is not merely a project but a matter of faith for all of us. He reiterated that the holy project of Devika does not belong to a particular political party or an individual but it is equally owned by each one of us.Besides giving full credit to Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Devika Project would have never got approval if Modiji was not the Prime Minister. He further said that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Namami Gange’ project in 2014 after sworn in as Prime Minister, a similar thought came to mind to start “River Devika Abatement and Beautification Project” as Devika is considered as the elder sister of Ganga.Similarly, the first two Highway Villages of the country are also coming up in Udhampur and Kathua. Dr Jitendra Singh reminded that only last year the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, adjudged district Udhampur as Number One in accomplishing PMGSY road projects. Asia’s longest Road Tunnel at Chenani-Nashri, named after Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee, is also located in the outskirts of Udhampur, he added.In the last few years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, a series of Degree Colleges and Sports Stadiums have been started with Central grants, in and around Udhampur. Many far flung areas which have never seen motor vehicles are now connected with roads, he said.Artists of Information Department presented theme based scintillating cultural programmes which mesmerized the audience on the occasion.
