‘Need peace for undertaking development projects’
‘Srinagar will be turned into a tourist destination’
‘Projects with World Bank funding already in the pipeline’
Srinagar: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that the people of Srinagar ‘maintained peace despite provocations’ during the 2016 uprising.
Terming peace as a pre-requisite for development, the CM said that the government has planned to turn the city into a tourist destination and Srinagar remains a focal point in the development agenda of the party.
“The people of the Srinagar city maintained peace despite provocations during the unrest of last year which needs to be appreciated. I know the brunt you bore as majority of city dwellers are daily earners who faced difficulties but maintained calm”, said Mehbooba while addressing party workers in Srinagar.
She also informed that a Rs.2100 crore ring road project for the summer capital has already been approved by the Government of India. Apart from that many big projects with funding from Asian Development Bank and the World Bank are in the pipeline.
Mehbooba also pointed out that by turning the city into a tourist destination, it won’t only bring Srinagar on the heritage map of the world, but also create livelihood for youth.
“This would mitigate the problem of unemployment among youth to a large extent and give the economy of those people a boost who don’t have any other means of livelihood, “she said.
The CM also said that her father and the former chief minister Mufti Sayeed referred Srinagar as his ‘Dil’ (heart) and the party would take his mission of developing the city forward.
“During the ten months of his tenure as Chief Minister, Mufti sahib visited the city five times and even the last engagement he undertook was a long tour of the whole city, “said the CM.
Mehbooba said that people remember the tenure of 2002 to 2005 in which many historic and bold steps were taken and the party hopes to repeat the same. However, she mentioned that peace has to be maintained in order to take the state forward politically as well as on the development front.
“You saw a glimpse of that during the three year rule of the Party from 2002 to 2005 when we convinced the national leadership to take many path breaking historic decisions giving people here the relief they were longing for, “said Mehbooba.
She further added, “We hope to do so again this time. So I appeal to maintain peace so that not only do the developmental activities carry on smoothly but also the political process which will relieve us from the perennial uncertainty and desolation.”
With inputs from KNS
