New Delhi, Sep 1: Accusing the earlier governments at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir of deciding their priorities on vote bank consideration, Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh Friday said that in the last over nine years, the NDA government headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended discrimination against people living in border areas and ensured justice to all.
He was interacting with a delegation of Seema Jagran Manch that called on him here.
Dr Jitendra, who is the Union Minister of State (independent charge) Science & Technology besides being MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, alleged that the blatant discrimination by the Congress-National Conference government was evident from its decision to provide 4 percent reservation in higher education institutions and jobs to those living along the LoC but denying the same to those living along the International Border (IB), mostly along Kathua and Samba districts.
This, he alleged, was done because Congress-NC thought they had more votes to gain from areas along LoC while people living along IB were inclined towards BJP. “What could be the worst example of inhuman discrimination between one section of youth and the other, between one part of the border and the other,” he asked.
It was only after the Prime Minister Modi took over, that this anomaly was corrected and youth along IB were also given the same benefit, reminded the Union Minister, who is also the Lok Sabha MP representing Kathua-Udhampur-Doda.
Dr Jitendra said, “Prime Minister Modi will go down in history for having brought justice to the Pakistan refugees settled in J&K who were deprived of their constitutional rights of citizenship and owning the property. Even as two of them, Dr Manmohan Singh and IK Gujral went on to become Prime Ministers, the refugees settled in J&K were not even given voting rights because there was apprehension that they may not vote for Congress and National Conference.”
“West-Pak refugees have also been sanctioned Rs. 5 lakh per family,” he said.
The Union Minister said that the central government approved funds for construction of 13,029 Individual bunkers with capacity of eight persons each and 1,431 community bunkers with capacity of 40 persons each in the border areas of Jammu & Kashmir.
Stating that development had been brought to the last man in the last queue under PM Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “The border areas which were neglected earlier have now become the models of development, the best example being the border district Kathua which is now being cited as an example of unprecedented development which was never seen before.”
“Today there is road connectivity right up to the last point on IB, which was also done in the last 9 years,” he said.
