J&K WILL GET BACK ITS STATEHOOD, SAYS BUKHARI

SRINAGAR : Former PDP minister Altaf Bukhari has emerged as the main leader to talk to central government representatives in Jammu and Kashmir amid the political vacuum. While some have called Bukhari and his associate politicians opportunists, others have adopted a wait and watch policy. In an interview, Bukhari talks about his plans to float a new political party.

NEW DELHI: All 37 central ministers who visited Jammu and Kashmir recently will submit feedback to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the implementation of various development schemes there, officials said on Friday.

So far, 14 ministers have submitted their assessment on the implementation of the welfare schemes in a proforma so that action can be taken on the basis of the feedback.

All 37 union ministers will submit their feedback on their visits to J&K soon, a home ministry official said.

The central ministers visited Jammu and Kashmir following a directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wanted an honest assessment of various welfare schemes being carried out in the newly created UT.

Among those who had visited include law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, sports minister Kiren Rijiju, ministers of state for home G Kishan Reddy among others.The ministers only spoke about the development initiatives and there was no reference to political issues, the official said.

While interacting with local people, the ministers got first hand information about the local roads, healthcare facilities, power situation, functioning of academic institutions besides others. There will be two sets of feedback—one on the initiatives taken by the administration and on the other about the Centre’s initiatives, the official said. PTI