Government lines up growth initiatives for new union territories

NEW DELHI: The Centre has lined up development initiatives and infrastructure works for the new Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

A decisive development push with a soft touch is the mantra that the central ministries are following to unveil a slew of welfare measures. The biggest fillip will be for the government’s flagship schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (both rural and urban), rural road connectivity, skill development programmes and Smart City mission.

The ministry of housing and urban affairs is likely to pave way for declaring Leh a smart city. So far, the state of J&K had two smart cities — Srinagar and Jammu. However, with the reorganisation and carving out of a new Union Territory, the government is exploring the possibility of giving a smart city tag to Ladakh.


“The Smart City Mission plan has always been to build at least one smart city in every state or Union Territory,” a senior official told ET. “It has been stated by the minister that we would not stop at just 100 smart cities. So, we are now looking at the urban local body structure in Leh and might give the new UT a smart city.”

The government would also reach out to women through self-help groups (SHGs). So far, 64% of the blocks in J&K have SHGs. The government’s roadmap for J&K has set the target of covering 100% blocks by end of 2020. This would mean involving 700,000-800,000 women in SHGs and giving them a source of income. The government is also planning skill development courses, especially related to tourism, for the youth.

The ministries are expecting an increase in the pace of implementation of projects. The biggest problem the Centre, according to officials, faced was in the release of funds transferred to the state finance department. “Most of the times the funds reaching finance department would not be released to the concerned state department, instead would be used for paying salaries,” said a ministry official. “The issue was taken up and the state government even had to pay interest on delayed payments but this delayed our central government projects implementation.”

So far, J&K had committed to building 31,788 houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Grameen) and has completed 16,439. The speed of completion is likely to increase now with speedy fund transfers.

Signalling its intention to channel development to the new Union Territories, even the tribal ministry’s annual festival showcasing tribal art and culture has been shifted out of New Delhi to Leh. Home minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the weeklong festival in Leh on Saturday.

The inflow of funds to the two new Union Territories would see a sharp increase over the next six months. A ministry of housing and urban affairs official said, “So far, almost all of our schemes were working on the 90:10 ratio with 10% funds coming from the state. Now with UT status, entire financing would be by the Centre and the funds would reach on time.”