DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 2015 (PAGE 3) Union Minister details about new projects taken up in last 9 months Shat Chandi Maha Yagya commences at Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Dr Jitendra asks partymen to act Excelsior Correspondent officers of the Shrine Board and a large number of pilgrims were pres- JAMMU, Mar 21: Shat Chandi ent on the occasion. Maha Yagya organized by Shri Mata The Bhawan, Atka and the area as ambassadors of Govt Vaishno Devi Shrine Board surrounding it have been tastefully (SMVDSB) at the holy cave shrine of decorated with flowers. The Shrine Excelsior Correspondent ects taken up in hand during the the State have also been sanc- Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji com- Board has made elaborate arrange- last nine months in the State in tioned. menced today on the auspicious occa- ments for the large number of pil- JAMMU, Mar 21: Union general, and his Constituency in He said starting of Yuvavani sion of beginning of Navratras amidst grims expected to visit the shrine Minister in PMO with inde- particular, he said besides the Station for Jammu and upgrada- Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed chairing a meeting at Jammu on Saturday. chanting of Vedic Mantras and per- during Navratras. These arrange- pendent charge of North Eastern sanction of AIIMS for the tion of KV at Udhampur are formance of other religious cere- ments included ensuring sufficient monies. States, Dr Jitendra Singh today Kashmir Valley, IIT and IIM other achievements of last nine water and uninterrupted power sup- The Maha Yagya, which is per- ply along the track leading to the asked the partymen to fan out in have been sanctioned for months. Greater accessibility catchword for promotion entire State and apprise the peo- Jammu region. The process for Dr Singh said Kathua-Doda ple of the nine months perform- identification of land for IIT has Parliamentary Segment played a ance of Narendra Modi led started, he added. significant role in BJP's victory of new tourist destinations: Mufti Government at Centre. In addition to it inauguration in Assembly elections in which Addressing a meeting or of Kidyan Gandyal bridge, tech- party won 25 seats from Jammu Excelsior Correspondent nated effort in increasing the the Pahalgam resort by de-link- Party representatives from nical park at Gatti Kathua, High region out of 37. carrying capacity at these ing it from the main grid so that Kathua-Doda Parliamentary technical forecast system at He urged the Partymen to JAMMU, Mar 21: resorts," he said and added that people visiting the place are not Constituency here today, Dr Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, iden- identify the areas where the MP Describing tourism as one of the amusement parks, which are a deprived from this basic neces- Singh said it is an evidence tification of land at Hiranagar LAD (Local Area Development) most rapidly-growing sectors in major attraction for children, sity. "This will also facilitate the Fund can be utilized. But these the world and backbone of along with other connected pilgrims who visit the place dur- areas should be other than those J&K's economy, the Chief paraphernalia should also be ing the Amarnath Yatra," he said where the funds from other Minister Mufti Mohammad created to increase the flow of while calling for immediate out- sources and schemes are not uti- Sayeed today called for harness- tourists. sourcing of Pahalgam Shopping lized. ing the tourism potential of the The Chief Minister issued Complex comprising 80 shops. Speaking on the occasion State by providing greater immediate directions to major The Chief Minister stated Minister of State for R&B and accessibility to new destinations Tourism Development that he will take a review of A view of holy cave of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji at Trikuta Revenue, Sunil Sharma said that and creating high-end infra- Authorities for procuring Jammu-based Tourism Hills in Katra on first Navratra. structure at existing ones so that the work on second phase of garbage dumpers to address the Development Authorities later formed at the shrine during a new class of visitors is attract- shrine, sanitation and availability of PMGSY will begin soon in the issue of piling of waste within this month. Navratras for peace and prosperity, special “fast related” food at the ed to the State. State as the Centre has agreed to the Resort Bowls for its proper Principal Secretary, Planning will conclude with Purna Ahuti on Bhojanalayas. release funds for the same. He The Chief Minister said this scientific disposal. Expressing & Development, B. R. Sharma, Ramnavami. The CEO took stock of the urged the Partymen to maintain while taking a detailed review of concern over establishment of Commissioner/Secretary, Dr MK Bhandari, Chief arrangements put in place from vigil that funds are utilized the functioning of Tourism TRCs even at places where flow Tourism & Culture, Shailendra Executive Officer, Dr MK Kumar, Katra to Bhawan for the pilgrims. properly meant for developmen- Development Authorities of tourists is very low, the Chief Kumar, MD, JKTDC, Farooq Additional CEO, Neeraj Gupta, Accompanied by officers and engi- tal purposes. (TDAs) of Kashmir and J&K Minister asked all CEOs to con- Ahmad Shah, Deputy Chief Accounts Officer, SMVDSB, neers of the Shrine Board he also BJP organizational general Cable Car Corporation here centrate on focusing and devel- Commissioners of Baramulla, Ranjeet Singh, Sub-Divisional took physical on-spot review of the secretary Ashok Koul while today. MD, J&K SCCC and oping a "Single Destination Anantnag, Kupwara and Magistrate, Bhawan, Sandeep ongoing development works in the Dr Jitendra Singh at a party meeting at Jammu on Saturday. speaking on the occasion CEOs of Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Concept" in their Development Kulgam, besides the CEOs of Kumar, Tehsildar Bhawan, Onkar Bhawan area undertaken by the —Excelsior/Rakesh stressed on strengthening the Sonamarg, Yusmarg, Aharbal, Authorities. Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Singh, Manager Bhawan, other Shrine Board. based age and hence nothing can for settlement of border Party by launching membership Verinag, Kokernag and Lolab The Chief Minister asked the Yusmarg, Aharbal, Kokernag, be concealed from the masses. migrants, doubling the salaries drive in farflung and remote TDAs gave power-point presen- Commissioner/Secretary Verinag and Lolab-Bangus He asked the Partymen to be of SPOs and VDCs, KV for areas. He said Party workers tations to the Chief Minister on Tourism to provide a dedicated Development Authorities available to the people and listen Jodhpur Gandoh in Doda dis- should enroll as many members the functioning of their respec- uninterrupted power supply to attended the meeting. their grievances and problems to trict, smart villages etc are the as they could. tive departments. project them before the appro- other achievements of nine MLA Doda and MLA Unveiling his strategy for priate forum for redressal. months tenure. Bhaderwah Shakti Parihar and the next six years for increasing Maintaining that the Party Besides, the work on Stage Daleep Parihar stressed on con- footfall of visitors to the State workers are ambassadors of the second of Dul Hasti Power struction of Power Projects in from other parts of the country Government in their respective Project will also be taken up in the area. They said the Chenab and abroad, the Chief Minister areas, Dr Singh said that they hand soon as the DPR of the Valley has a tremendous poten- took a series of decisions which have to counter the propaganda project has been prepared. tial for generating power and the include laying of golf courses at of opponents and highlight the Stressing that the project same should be tapped properly. Sonamarg and Yusmarg, com- achievements and people friend- should be constructed by Shakti also stressed on construc- mencement of work on ly policies of Government. NHPC, Dr Singh said the com- tion of tunnel to connect Doda Ashmuqam Cable Car Project Dr Singh said to have a bet- pany has better technical Kishtwar trough an alternative and Jammu Ropeway by remov- ter coordination with Partymen know-how than State. Besides, road. ing bottlenecks, preparation of and the people a monthly meet- this way the Centre will also The meeting was attended feasibility report of Cable Car ing will be held in future at have some control over the by the Party representatives Project at Yusmarg and out- Party's Gandhi Nagar office power sector in the State, he from Doda, Kishtwar, sourcing accommodation and where he will also be available added. Bhaderwah, Ramban, Banihal, sanitation in respect of all for the people. This will help in Dr Singh said mobile towers Udhampur, Reasi, Chenani, Tourism Development maintaining a good liaison with will be established in far-flung Gool Arnas, Gool Gulabgarh, Authorities of the State. He also public and seeking a feedback areas of Kishtwar to connect the Kathua, Bani, Basholi, Billawar, issued immediate instructions to from them. 58 villages which have no con- Hiranagar, Ramnagar and CEOs of Gulmarg and Highlighting the new proj- nectivity and FM channels for Inderwal Constituencies. Pahalgam TDAs to take over administrative control of their respective golf courses. Describing accessibility as the catchword for exploiting the rich potential of leisure, adven- ture, pilgrim and heritage tourism in the State, the Chief Minister said aggressive mar- keting is the need of the hour at the national and international levels to promote J&K as an ideal tourist destination. Laying great emphasis on keeping the health resorts neat and clean and ensuring regular power and water supply in the jurisdictions of all Development Authorities, the Chief Minister called for adopting the Ring- and-Cluster Approach in con- struction of tourist accommoda- tion at all the resorts without disturbing the Bowls and the surrounding environment. "We will talk to the Forest Department for a more coordi- Transporters oppose Toll collection at Ban Talab on NH Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Mar 21: All J&K Transport Welfare Association has strongly opposed the Toll collection by the National Highway Authority of India at Ban Talab, ahead of Nagrota on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. In an emergency meeting of the of all transporters held under the chairmanship of T S Wazir, the members expressed strong resentment against the attitude of the Central and State Governments. They pointed out that transporters of J&K are already paying huge fee/ taxes to the Government. They said the transporters have already suf- fered huge losses after the opera- tion of train/ DMU service from Railway Station Jammu to Katra/ Udhampur. Recent floods also caused extensive losses to them. Under such circumstances, the transport operators are unable to bear the burden of extra tax in the form of Toll. Moreover, Toll of Rs 375 per bus/ truck and Rs 200 per mini bus and Rs 125 per Taxi per trip is totally unjustified and exces- sive. The NHAI have started charging the Toll from March 20, 2015. They sought the interven- tion of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to person- ally intervene and withdraw the Toll tax being levied at Ban Talab near Nagrota. They said transporters are in no mood to take any confrontation and if their demand is not addressed, they will be forced to adopt agi- tational path.