Delhi: Amit Shah chairs a high-level meeting at the MHA over Jammu & Kashmir to review projects and focus on increasing trade.
The Center is also inviting political parties from the Valley for discussions later this month.
A meeting began at the Ministry of Home Affairs, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary Arun Mehta, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, DGP Dilbag Singh, and other top officers attended the meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Amit Shah reviewed the status of the ongoing development projects in Jammu & Kashmir, officials said. In the meeting, he also discussed the new projects directed to benefit the Union Territory.
Sources say that the focus of the Center is also on how the trade can be increased in the newly-formed Union Territory.
It is said that Home Minister Amit Shah has been keeping a close eye on the developmental projects in J&K so that they are finished on time, sources say.
Many projects like the construction of highways, flood protection projects, water supply, electrification in urban and rural areas, housing development programs have been launched by the government along with special projects for the growth of the health and education system.
It seems a decisive step for Jammu and Kashmir because after the abrogation of articles 370 and 35A, with a 1-year lockdown and then COVID-19 led to a ponderous 3-year lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir causing the crash of trade, huge income loss, the worst in 70 years, joblessness and ruined businesses.
Due to the lockdowns and unpredictability of situations, thousands of daily wagers, casual laborers, teachers, social workers, scheme workers, and others have been denied wages for months together.
Stress levels and suicide rates have increased due to the long lockdowns, and political unrest in the Valley among the young and the cases are increasing. Psychiatrists report that girls as young as 12 and 13 are getting psychiatric help because they are depressed. Financial and emotional pressures are causing a surging mental health crisis.
Over this last year, there is a sudden escalation of heart attacks from the younger population of Jammu and Kashmir, alarming everyone. Young people dying of cardiac arrest, and it could be the lifestyle of not being able to exercise due to the lockdowns, financial difficulties, and stress, along with depression has been the cause of sudden deaths in the young.
With no jobs, where people need to be positively and actively engaged, drug addiction is a threat to the future of Kashmir. Due to prolonged conflict, unrest, unpredictability, living in an atmosphere of fear, worry, crashed economy, the youth are getting into drugs. Brown sugar, cannabis and directly injecting heroin into the blood through needles are getting common. Thousands of Kashmiri youth are in the claws of drug addiction. There is a registered 945 percent rise in patients since 2016-17. Most of them are between ages 10 and 30 and around 80-90 percent of them are heroin addicts.
The Kashmiris are looking forward to growth, development, and good income in the newly formed Union Territories so that they can get on with their lives positively with prosperity and peace.