PM Modi to launch multiple development projects from Jammu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu on Tuesday to launch multiple development projects, including for education, railway, aviation and road sectors, worth Rs 30,500 crore. He will also distribute appointment letters to about 1,500 newly recruited government employees of Jammu and Kashmir and interact with beneficiaries of various schemes as part of the 'Viksit Bharat, Viksit Jammu' programme, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Among the railway projects that Modi will inaugurate are the railway line between Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan (48 km) and the newly electrified Baramulla-Srinagar-Banihal-Sangaldan section (185.66 km). The statement said that he would flag off the first electric train in the Valley and the train service between Sangaldan and Baramulla stations.

The commissioning of the Banihal-Khari-Sumber-Sangaldan section is significant as it features the usage of ballast less track (BLT) all along the route providing a better ride experience to passengers, it said. India's longest transportation tunnel T-50 (12. 77 km) lies in the portion between Khari and Sumber. The railway projects will improve connectivity, ensure environmental sustainability and boost the overall economic development of the region.

In a significant step towards upgrading and developing education and skilling infrastructure across the country, the statement said, Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several projects worth about Rs 13,375 crore. The projects include permanent campuses for IIT Bhilai, IIT Tirupati, IIT Jammu, IIITDM Kancheepuram, Indian Institute of Skills (IIS), a pioneer skill training institute on advanced technologies located at Kanpur, and campuses of Central Sanskrit University at Devprayag (Uttarakhand) and Agartala (Tripura).

He will also inaugurate three new IIMs in the country -- IIM Jammu, IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Visakhapatnam -- besides 20 new buildings for Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and 13 for new Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) buildings across the country. As part of his government's efforts to provide comprehensive, quality and holistic tertiary-care health services to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the prime minister will inaugurate the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Vijaypur (Samba), Jammu.

The institute, whose foundation stone was laid by him in February 2019, is being established under the central government scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana'. Established at a cost of over Rs 1,660 crore and in an area spanning over 227 acres, the hospital is equipped with 720 beds, a medical college with 125 seats, a nursing college with 60 seats, an AYUSH block with 30 beds, residential accommodation for faculty and staff, hostel accommodation for UG and PG students and a shopping complex among other facilities.

Among other projects, Modi will lay the foundation stone for a new terminal building at the Jammu airport. Spread over 40,000 sqm, the new terminal building will be equipped with modern facilities catering to about 2,000 passengers during peak hours, will be environment friendly and will showcase the local. During the programme, he will lay the foundation stone of important road projects including two packages (44.22 km) of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway connecting Jammu to Katra and phase-two for four-laning of the Srinagar Ring road.

The statement said he will lay the foundation stone for a project to develop CUF (Common User Facility) petroleum depot at Jammu as well. Modi will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several development projects worth more than Rs 3,150 crore for strengthening the civic infrastructure and provisioning of public facilities across Jammu and Kashmir, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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