Tuesday, Dec 03, 2002
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By Our New Delhi Bureau
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: Anu Pushkarna
Talking to newsmen later, he said the thrust of his meeting with Mr. Vajpayee and other Ministers was on "development'', implying that there were no differences in perceptions or approach towards dealing with Pakistan-inspired terrorism in the State. Perhaps the Chief Minister's most crucial meeting was with the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. It was agreed that the Special Secretary in the Home Ministry, Ashok Bhandari, would visit Jammu and Kashmir to discuss with the State Government in detail, issues such as setting up the screening committee for release of separatists, increasing the stipend of special police officers and schemes for the surrendered militants. Describing the controversy over the recently released separatists and militants as "unfortunate'', Mr. Advani, told The Hindu that he would prefer a detailed interaction between the Home Ministry officials and the State Government on the issue. "Let there be a detailed discussion at the official level. The Chief Minister has also emphasised on concerted and well-coordinated action between the Centre and the State on several issues,'' he said. Mr. Advani told the Chief Minister that he would visit the State after the winter session of Parliament ended on December 20. "If there is a meeting of the Unified Command, it would be a good occasion to attend it,'' he added. The economic content of the Mufti's visit was confined basically to the separate discussions he had with the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant. At both these meetings, it was emphasised that the people of the State had a lot of hope in the new Government and the Centre and the State Government should take up the challenge to meet their aspirations. During his discussions, the Mufti stressed on the infrastructural constraints facing the State. He raised the issue of power shortage and emphasised the point that as per the memorandum of understanding signed between the State administration and power project promoters, only 12 per cent of the power generated was allotted to the State free of cost. There was an option to procure another 15 per cent, but this was on payment basis, which the administration found difficult to meet in view of the resource constraints. Consequently, gas turbines were being used to generate electricity he said and wanted cheaper alternatives to be explored. On road connectivity, it was pointed out that while work had started on developing a four-lane Pathankot-Jammu road link by the National Highway Development Authority, nothing substantial had been taken up at the Srinagar end. Similarly, for the rail link to Kashmir — a part of the Prime Minister's J&K package — it was found that land acquisition had already taken place in some areas and construction of rail stations had also begun. It was noted that the Jammu-Udhampur rail link would be operational by December 2003. On the Jammu-Srinagar portion, the contract for the Katra-Qazigund rail link had been given the Konkan Railway in view of the difficult terrain. Later in the evening, the Chief Minister called on the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.
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