As many as 70 ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s union government are likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir as part of a special public outreach programme beginning next week.
In the nine-week long programme that starts on September 10, at least eight ministers are expected to visit the Union Territory each week, according to reports. The ministers will interact with the public, the administration, and Panchayati Raj Institutions during the visit, the reports said.
This will be the second outreach by the union government in Jammu and Kashmir after the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile state. At least 36 union ministers had visited the UT in January last year.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh is coordinating with the Union Home Ministry to finalise the schedule, according to a report in the Daily Excelsior.
Some of the ministers who were inducted into the Cabinet in July this year will be visiting Jammu and Kashmir for the first time after taking over the new responsibility.
The ministers will submit their reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office on their return, the reports said.
In the last visit, the ministers interacted with people at 52 locations in Jammu and eight locations in Kashmir.
In the past few days, as many as 13 Parliamentary Standing Committees (PSCs) have visited the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla also finished his week-long visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh recently.