J&K Govt: Tourism up, LoC quiet since abrogation of Article 370

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, August 5

The re-arrangement of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory through revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution four years ago on August 5 had led to lesser number of incidents across the Line of Control (LoC), greater investments, increased tourism and devolution of power at the panchayat level.

Just five days ago, on August 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs mentioned in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that there had been no infiltration across the LoC this year so far.

In the years 2021 and 2022, there were 34 and 14 infiltrations, respectively. The terror incidents have also come down. There were around 129 terrorist-related incidents in 2021 and 125 incidents in 2022. In 2023, there have been 26 incidents so far.

Post the abrogation of Article 370, the significant regional development includes empowerment of local populace, repealing discriminatory laws and introducing equitable measures.

The Panchayati Raj Institutions have been empowered as the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 that governs the PRIs is now applicable to the UT, leading to the devolution of power to the local self-governance units.

The first ever District Development Council (DDC) elections were conducted in 2020.

In terms of the inflow of external investments, the J&K government had inked 456 memoranda of understanding with different companies to bring in investments worth Rs 23,152 crore.

The Central Government had a scheme to bring about transformation in the existing industrial ecosystem of J&K, enabling it to compete with other states/ UTs.

The scheme is for the duration of 2021-22 to 2036-37 with a financial outlay of Rs 28,400 crore. In March this year, Parliament was informed that J&K received a record investment of Rs 1,547.87 crore.

While the G20 meet on tourism in May in Srinagar was the signature event, 4.70 lakh tourists visited J&K in 2022. Another 1.88 crore pilgrims visited for Amarnath and Vaishno Devi shrine. Kashmir has also received over 15,000 foreign tourists in the first six months of 2023.

No more shutdown in ut, says L-G Sinha

• The biggest change the abrogation brought is that the J&K people are living life according to their wishes, said L-G Manoj Sinha.
• Pakistan-sponsored shutdowns by separatists, affecting educational institutions, etc, for about 150 days a year, have ended, he said. PTI

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