60 Union Ministers to be in J&K for week

New Delhi, January 15

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In a massive public outreach programme in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogating special constitutional provisions to the erstwhile state and converting it into a Union Territory (UT), the government has asked Union Ministers to visit there. The ministers will be in the UT for a week between January 18 and 24, during which 60 of them will cover districts, tehsils and even blocks to make people aware of the advantages of the Centre’s decision.

Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said a detailed programme relating to the proposed visits has been shared with the UT administration of J&K. According to the schedule, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will visit Baramulla on January 24, they added.

“Smriti Irani will go to Kabra and Panthal while VK Singh will visit Udhampur on January 20. On January 22, Kishan Reddy will go to Ganderbal and Minigam on January 23. Kiren Rijiju has been scheduled to go to Suchetgarh in Jammu while Sripad Naik will go to Srinagar. RK Singh has been asked to visit Doda. Other ministers who will undertake the visit to the UT, include Giriraj Singh, Anurag Thakur, Piyush Goyal, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Prahlad Joshi among others,” said a senior MHA official. This is the first such visit ever since the decision was taken to abrogate special provisions accorded to J&K on August 5. The ministers, while interacting with people, will make them aware of the positive impact of the abrogation of Article 370, MHA, sources said, adding that they will also share the development initiatives taken by the government. — TNS