DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
KATRA, Sept 17
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said here today that the newly carved out “Shri Mata Vaishno Devi” Assembly constituency personifies “holy faith” which Congress disregarded over the last several decades.
Addressing a series of BJP public meetings in the Bhomag area of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi constituency which includes the Holy Shrine as well as the Katra town, Dr Jitendra Singh said, for years together, people of this region had been making genuine demands but the successive governments headed by Congress and its allies were always indifferent and that was also the case of the “Baridars”, the erstwhile Pujari families who had raised certain genuine issues after the enactment of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Act in 1986 but were never given a fair hearing.
It was only after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014 that the holy town of Katra and the Holy Shrine started getting the attention it deserves. He recalled that when the BJP had declared Narendra Modi as its Prime Minister candidate in 2013, the latter had started his countrywide election campaign from Vaishno Devi Shrine. Later, he recalled, soon after becoming Prime Minister in 2014, one of the earliest prominent programmes of Narendra Modi was the inauguration of the Katra Railway Station. It has been only in the last 10 years, said Dr Jitendra Singh, that Katra was declared as one of the 10 icon locations of the country and was included in the National PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) Scheme for exclusive funding for development of the holy town.
Despite being located in the foothills of the Vaishno Devi Shrine, the surrounding villages suffered from poor connectivity and it is only in the last 10 years that there has been a network of PMGSY roads and centrally funding roads which has not only brought ease of travel and generated revenues but has also increased the number of pilgrims visiting the Holy Shrine multiple times. Again, he said, it is only under the Modi government that new facilities for Darshan and travel have been provided at the Holy Shrine and the latest technology is being used for the convenience of devotees coming from all over the world.
The Katra -Delhi Express road corridor is also going to be complete soon, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister Modi has accorded Katra and surrounding areas the kind of reverence that they deserve and it was Modi’s personal intervention which enabled the introduction of not one but two Vande Bharat trains to Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra Railway Station. In addition, he said, very soon with the blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi, the train to Kashmir valley will pass through here crossing the highest railway bridge of the world.
Showering praise on the DDC Chairman Sarv Singh Naag, Dr Jitendra Singh said, ever since he has been elected, he has benefited the area through his dedication and administrative skills. He said, after 8th October, when Baldev Raj Sharma is elected BJP MLA, there would be a multi-tier coordination between the DDC Chairman, MLA, MP and the central government. This would make it far easier to translate the central government’s benefits on the ground.
