New Delhi- Jammu and Kashmir has received 6,851 investment proposals to the tune of Rs 1.19 lakh crore ever since Article 370 was abrogated five years ago, and 4.61 lakh potential jobs are expected to be created through these initiatives, official sources said.
Giving details of the overall progress in Jammu and Kashmir every since August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was scrapped and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories, the sources said the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh received equal federal rights with the acceptance of “One Constitution, One National Flag, One Prime Minister”.
By ending the ‘Durbar tradition’ of shifting capital in summer and winter months, Rs 400 crore has been saved while Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English were declared official languages, they said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy 2021-30, Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy 2021-30, Jammu-Kashmir Private Industrial Estates Development Policy 2021-30 and Jammu-Kashmir Wool Processing, Handicrafts and Handlooms Policy 2020 were formulated.
A package of Rs 28,000 crore, which has been announced, will create 4.5 lakh expected jobs while 6,851 investment proposals worth Rs 1.19 lakh crore have been received under which 4.61 lakh jobs are expected to be created, the sources said.
In 2022-23, Rs 2,200 crore was invested which created 22,000 direct and indirect jobs besides one lakh jobs were created through employment guarantee programme.
In 2023-24, Rs 2,493 crore investment has been received till February 2024 under which 31,000 jobs are likely to be created, the sources said.
Out of the 3,000 additional government jobs, 2,720 appointments have been allocated to Kashmiri migrants, reconstruction of temples has been carried out and Diwali was celebrated at Mata Sharda Devi Temple in Kupwara after decades.
A total of 1.61 lakh domicile certificates have been issued and registration of 13,000 certificates is in progress.
The sources said the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Raj Act, 1989 has been amended to establish District Development Councils (DDC) in each district and established a three-tier Panchayat Raj system in Jammu and Kashmir.
There was a 74 per cent voter turnout in the panchayat elections which were conducted in November-December 2018.
A record 98 per cent turnout was registered in the Block Development Council (BDC) elections held in October 2019 and the DDC members were elected after polls were held in eight phases between November and December, 2020.
Gram Panchayat and municipal elections were scheduled to be held in November-December last year, but were delayed due to delimitation commission and OBC reservation issues, the sources said.
A total of 34,260 public representatives are representing at the local level, including 4,026 sarpanch, 28,624 panch, 1,068 councillors, 264 BDC members and 278 DDC members.
No incidents of violence were reported in these local elections, the sources said.
Under the Prime Minister’s Development package, 63 projects worth Rs 80,000 crore were sanctioned and out of these, nine projects worth Rs 21,000 crore have been transferred to the Union Territory of Ladakh.
Out of the remaining 53 projects worth Rs 59,000 crore, 35 projects have been completed.
Out of the Rs 49,000 crore released for 53 projects, Rs 48,000 crore has been spent till June 2024, the sources said.