Will strike last nail in coffin of terrorism in one year — J&K LG

Srinagar, Aug. 13 (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Saturday claimed the government will strike the last nail in the coffin of terrorism in the union territory in one year.

He made these remarks while speaking here at a function at SKICC where he laid the foundation stone of 25 DDC, BDC buildings and inaugurated 1000 amrit sarovars across the Union territory.

The Lt Governor said it is “our sacred obligation to defend every inch of motherland and even if we have to sacrifice everything, we shall be ready”.

“Some people, on behest of the neighbouring country, are trying to create disturbance in J-K. The neighbouring country which itself is living in misery, can’t do any good to the people of J-K,” he said.

“We have lost many innocent lives, now it has to stop. The right time has come to strike the last nail in the coffin of terrorism and its ecosystem. Your younger generation should not face the hardships that their forefathers went through. They must make the nation proud,” he added.

Sinha also spoke about the thousands of youths in Tral Pulwama who paid homage to freedom fighters and reverberated the sky with slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

He said in August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi bestowed the Union territory with a gift of new dawn of development and prosperity.

“For 70 years, the socio-economic system of Jammu and Kashmir was facing serious crisis and in the last three years, the Union territory has achieved great strides in the direction of reducing the gap between villages and cities that had only widened in the last seven decades.”

He said the implementation of 73rd and 74th Constitution amendments have given a new lease of life to grassroots democracy in J-K.

“We are determined to realise Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of poorn swaraj through gram swaraj. Devolution of the three Fs – funds, functions and functionaries have truly empowered the PRIs to fulfill their mandated role,” he said.

Sinha said even though the three-tier system was implemented late in the Union territory, Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as a great and effective example in this system and today, the step towards institutionalization of the offices of DDCs and BDCs, at a cost of Rs. 44.92 crore, will further strengthen and accentuate the efficiency of the Panchayati Raj system, making it the engine of community development in future

In all, the rural development department has approved the construction of 20 DDC and 285 BDC offices. 137 BDC offices will be set up in Kashmir division and 148 BDC offices in Jammu division. The process of housing construction of all the respected DDC chairpersons has been accelerated, it was informed.

The Lt Governor also outlined that for effective implementation of developmental plans and policies at the grassroots level, ample resources have been kept at the disposal of PRIs.

When the budget of Jammu and Kashmir was presented in Parliament this year, the goal of strengthening good governance and grass root democracy was placed at the top of the list of priorities, he added.