Srinagar | Jammu, Oct 9: The central government has resumed its third round of Public Outreach Programme to the Union territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir and over 60 union ministers including senior faces Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman are set to visit the UT as part of the programme.
“It has been conveyed to us that the Public Outreach Programme-III will resume in this month only,” Ashok Kaul, BJP General Secretary (Org.), Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh, told Rising Kashmir.
Kaul said the ministers would be visiting according to a set schedule.
“Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari are also visiting Jammu and Kashmir,” J&K BJP spokesperson, Ranbir Singh Pathania told The Rising Kashmir.
Pathania said that during the upcoming public outreach programme, the union ministers visiting J&K would meet different delegations, promote government schemes, take stock of public grievances and submit a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for further redressal.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Schindia arrived in Srinagar on October 8.
“He has met the Lieutenant Governor (LG) J&K Manoj Sinha at Raj Bhawan and discussed the development works related to civil aviation,” Schindia said in a tweet.
Post the revocation of Article 370, in August 2019, the Public Outreach Programme is conducted every year by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
This year, the Public Outreach Programme-III was started in June but was later put on halt due to security arrangements for the annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji shrine.
With its resumption, various central ministers are set to visit the UT.
Outline of the programme
Apart from the senior ministers in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinet like Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman, union MoS for rural development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti would be the first minister to visit Baramulla district on October 10.
She will stay in the district till October 12. In between October 10-12, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, John Barla would also visit the Ramban town in Jammu province. On October 11-12, MoS Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan would also visit south Kashmir’s Shopian town.
While union MoS Finance Pankaj Choudhary would visit Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district between October 12-15, Union MoS Tribal Affairs, Renuka Singh would visit Rajouri town on October 19. She’ll stay in the district till October 20.
Pertinently, the border town of Rajouri has a considerable population of tribal Gujjar and Bakerwal community members.
Between October 12 to 13, the Union MoS for Commerce and Industries Anupriya Patel would visit Ganderbal town.
Later, the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbhanand Sonowal would visit Ganderal town on October 27-28. On same day, the Union MoS for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Shantanu Thakur would visit Samba town in Jammu province.
Union MoS for education Subash Sarkar would also visit Kulgam district in south Kashmir in between October 14 and 16.
Meanwhile Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would visit the UT in November.
It is worth mentioning here that 36 central ministers visited 60 locations (52 in Jammu and 8 in Valley) under the union government’s first public outreach programme in 2020 and 70 ministers toured Jammu and Kashmir in the second public outreach programme in 2021.
The Public Outreach Programme first leg was started in January 2020, and the second round was conducted between September-October, 2021.
