Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today dedicated 75 projects to the nation, a number of them falling in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, from village Shyok in Leh district of Ladakh. The projects are of very vital importance for the troops as well as the civilians.

In his address, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the highest number of projects including seven bridges and one road were inaugurated today in his Parliamentary constituency of Udhampur-Kathua-Doda.

Seven bridges e-inaugurated by the Defence Minister in the Kathua district of Dr. Jitendra Singh’s constituency include Jantriya, Konyali-I, Konyali-II, Chenab Badi, Pakka Kotha, Challa Nallah, and Benadi.

Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that the Benadi bridge has been constructed in just 90 days by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) which is a BRO record till date while the Pakka Kotha bridge, which is 181 metres long multi span bridge, has been built in 102 days. The BRO has started construction of the Ramban bridge at an accelerated pace and Brihon bridge has been sanctioned under DGBR’s emergent powers and soon work will start there, the Minister added.

Commenting on the inauguration of 10 percent of total projects in his Parliamentary segment, Dr. Jitendra Singh remarked: “With the inauguration of new roads in Kathua district, road connectivity up to Zero Line on the International Border has been achieved”.

Dr. Jitendra Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the prompt approval of projects in his Parliamentary constituency of Udhampur-Kathua-Doda and said, with 200 bridges including small pulleys, a sort of record has been made in the last 8 years of the Modi Government.

Dr. Jitendra Singh also informed that in terms of PMGSY, for the last three years consecutively, Udhampur has stood first or second among all the districts in the country for constructing maximum numbers of all-weather rural roads. In May, this year, the Minister e-inaugurated nine newly completed PMGSY roads and four bridges in different parts of his constituency.

In December 2021, out of nine bridges inaugurated in Jammu and Kashmir, four were in the Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency that included Birham bridge-I, Birham bridge-II (both in Udhampur district), Gutassa bridge in Doda, Nagrah bridge (Kishtwar).

Dr. Jitendra Singh, while highlighting the government’s initiatives towards strengthening road connectivity in the UT, said that it is the firm commitment of the present dispensation that every part of the UT gets a durable road network for rapid growth and development. He said that the prime objective of PMGSY is to provide connectivity, by way of an all-weather road to the unconnected habitations in rural areas.