Mehbooba visits border for ‘father’s dream project’
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday visited the Octroi border outpost along the India-Pakistan international border in Suchetgarh to assess developing it liked Wagah border in Punjab.
Development of the Octroi post in RS Pura sector of Jammu district is seen as a dream project of her late father and former CM, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Mufti’s visit came amid reports that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing terror funding in Kashmir, may recommend closing down transLoC trade routes with Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK).
Mufti’s stated position is Suchetgarh can be developed on the lines of Wagah to enhance bonhomie between India and Pakistan. She also wants two more routes across the Line of Control (LoC) with PoK to foster camaraderie.
Before Partition, there had been a Jammu-Sialkot rail route via the Octroi post. A heritage building on the old Jammu-Sialkot route, a Raghunath temple and a BSF post near the post always attract tourists.
Between 250 and 500 tourists visit the border outpost each day for a glimpse of the route. Mufti reviewed execution of a ₹4.92 crore project to give tourism in the area a boost. She was informed that a hall with souvenir shops and a cafeteria is being constructed at a cost of ₹90 lakh and is scheduled to be completed by early next year.
She was also informed that the pre-independence railway platform is being restored and developed in the same vein as the Frontier Express. The project is expected to cost ₹1.50 crore and shall be completed by early 2019.
A proposal was with the Prime Minister’s Office during the UPA regime to take up opening of Suchetgarh-Sialkot, NowsheraMirpur and Pallanwala-Chamb routes with Pakistan, but it was put on hold after the 2008 terror attack.