Jammu: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah does not usually wear a trade-mark politician smile. But on Friday he was in a jet-blue Afghan suit with fawn waistcoat and rested his brooding face upon his hands clasped together, listening to the Prime Minister Modi.
The prime minister promised to make Katra a metropolis in next ten years. As if the body language was not enough to convey an untold discomfort , the chief minister gave the credit for expansion in J&K’s railway network to former Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh. He also mentioned Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was his boss in the 1999 cabinet .
Omar underlined the importance of railway in a State like Jammu and Kashmir and highlighted the need of early completion of unconnected stretches of Jammu-Baramulla Railway track adding that economic linkage of Jammu and Kashmir will get comprehensive boost by this initiative.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion of inauguration of Katra Railway Station here by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister also underscored the need for linking Poonch-Rajouri, Doda-Kishtwar in Jammu Division with the railways and extension of railway tracks in Kashmir Valley to various places particularly Tangmarg, Pahalgam and other tourist resorts.
The Chief Minister said that rail in Kashmir was a dream and referred the significant contribution made by Attal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh in realizing this cherished desire of the people.
He said that economic linkage in Jammu and Kashmir and with the rest of Country is largely dependent on railway.
He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inaugurating the railway track from Udhampur to Katra and expressed the hope that the demand of the State for the extension of railway link to various areas would be accommodated for the larger economic and developmental interests of the State.
Omar Abdullah also sought Prime Ministers intervention in the upgrade and improvement of Jammu Railway Station besides the implementation of various tourist attraction and beautification projects formulated and conceived by the Jammu and Kashmir State to make Jammu and Srinagar cities model cities in the Country.
Present on the occasion among others were Jammu and Kashmir Governor, N. N. Vohra, Union Railway Minister, D. V. Sadananda Gowda and Union Minister of State in PMO, Dr. Jatendra Singh, who recently kicked up a row by ‘revealing’ that the government was prepared to scrap article 370 of Indian constitution.
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