During his day long visit to all three regions of the state, Prime Minister NarendraModi laid foundation stones for some key developmental projects and inaugurated the 330-MW Kishanganga hydropower project.
This morning Modi flew from New Delhi to Leh and laid foundation stone for Rs 6,809-crore Zojilla Tunnel spanning 14.2 km.
Zojila pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway and remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall, cutting off Ladakh region from Kashmir. The tunnel is expected to be completed in 2026 and would provide round-the-year connectivity to Ladakh regions comprising of Leh and Kargil.
In Leh, the Prime Minister attended closing ceremony of the 100th birth anniversary celebrations of the 19th KushokBakula Rinpoche (Buddhist spiritual guru). At the ceremony, Modi said projects worth Rs 25,000 crore would either be initiated or inaugurated today in all three regions, saying it showed commitment of union government and state government towards speedy development of the state.
In the afternoon the Prime Minister flew to Srinagar and inaugurated 330-MW Kishanganga project, constructed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in Gurez area of Bandipora district, at a function at SKICC here. The Corporation has now eight of the total 23 projects operating in different states across India with cumulative capacity of 7047 MW. The NHPC generates one-third of this total energy from J&K only. During the function the PM also laid foundation stone of 42 kilometer Srinagar Ring Road which will be constructed at the cost of Rs 1200 crore. Later the Prime Minister flew to Jammu where he laid foundation stone of 1000-MW PakalDul hydropower project, owned jointly by NHPC and State Power Development Corporation and laid foundation stone of 58-km Jammu ring road. He also inaugurated alternative route to Vaishno Devi Bhawan and ropeway to it. The Prime Minister had reached Leh at 10 am and he left for New Delhi from Jammu at 7:55 pm.