We are in Kashmir to build confidence: Chairman PSC

Development of J&K is major goal: Venkatesh

Srinagar: Asserting that Kashmir is a beautiful place and people are very lovable, Chairman of the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC), T G Venkatesh on Thursday said they are in Kashmir to build and create confidence among people of Valley so that more domestic and foreign tourists arrive.
“Kashmir is a beautiful place and its people are very lovable. We have been to Switzerland many a times, but there snowy slopes, that we climb and come back,” Venkatesh told reporters.
He said that more tourists are coming to Kashmir—“both domestic and foreigners.” “We are here to create confidence and build trust,” he said.
Venkatesh, a Rajya Sabha MP, is leading the delegation of almost 31 MPs, to Kashmir. The Parliamentary Standing Committee is tasked to meet stakeholders of tourism, culture, roads, and transport.
He said that the Valley is badly affected on developmental front. “Today, we met hoteliers, transporters, traders and tour operators. We can’t reveal things before media. We will brief the Government of India about the problems being faced by the people associated with the tourism,” he said.
Venkatesh said that global and national level investors would soon come here and invest. “There will be local development on all fronts,” he said.
The chairman of PSC said that dreams of Prime Minister Narendera Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will be fulfilled visa-vis Kashmir. “Modi led government will be investing millions of rupees for development. Green field projects will come in a big way,” he said.
He said that today MoS PMO Dr Jitendera Singh and MP Dr Farooq Abdullah also attending the meetings. “Normally ministers doesn’t attend such meetings, but it was good to have them on our side,” he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said after Covid-19, the committee was constituted for the first time. “If you search globally, you can’t see any place like Kashmir, but this place has been lagging behind on development. In Kashmir there is everything except development,” he said.
He said that the committee discussed various subjects and got the feedback from various stakeholders and will apprise the Parliament. “We will go to Jammu also and meet various shades of opinion there too,” the chairman PSC said.
The Chairman said that the all-round development of UT is a major goal of Government of India. He said the Committee is on a visit to understand the problems of residents of J&K to resolve them.
He said that the committee is here to listen to the stakeholders about constraints specifically being faced by them in these sectors like road transport and what measures are needed to be taken to ensure that the highways in J&K match international best standards and road safety measures being taken in J&K.
The Chairman also said that the Committee shall also take stock of the promotion of Tourism sector vis-à-vis tapping domestic tourism, promotion of rural and adventure tourism, hotel infrastructure and development of highways for better road transport connectivity.
A number of issues and demands were raised by the stakeholders to the Committee like frequent closure of Srinagar- Jammu highway, revival and renovation of houseboats, uninterrupted power supply to hotels, financial packages for artisans, rising unemployment graph due to adversely affected tourism sector, need for cap on airfare, train connectivity, promotion of tourist destinations, round the clock functioning of Srinagar International Airport, better facilities at airport, lifting of travel advisories, cultural and adventure sports, medical tourism promotion, preservation of cultural and heritage, enhancement in central government funds, revival and restoration of lakes and other water bodies and better road connectivity across all tourist destinations.
The committee members assured that all the genuine issues shall be taken at appropriate level for resolution.
The committee also held a meeting with officials of Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of India, ASI and UT Government on promotion and preservation of Archaeological sites and artefacts in J&K and concerned officers briefed the delegation on measures taken for promotion of archaeological sites, monuments, and artefacts through a power point presentation.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee, presently on three day visit to Kashmir is led by Chairman of the Committee T.G Venkatesh and other MPs of the delegation on visit to Srinagar include Prassana Acharya, Vinay Dinn Tendulkar, Margani Bharat, Rahul Kaswan, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Chhedi Paswan, Kamlesh Paswan, Sunil Kumar Pintu, Tirath Singh Rawat, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ramdas Chandrabhanji Tadas and Krupal Balaji.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Union MoS Prime Minister’s Office and Dr Farooq Abdullah MP Srinagar also attended the meeting.
Besides, senior officers from Ministry of Tourism Govt of India, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir P K Pole, Secretary Tourism J&K Sarmad Hafeez, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal, Director Tourism, Director Archives & Archaeology, CGM NHAI, GM NHAI, ADG MoRTH and other senior officers were also present on the occasion. The meeting was also joined by senior officers of the UT Administration through video conferencing arranged by NIC Srinagar.