PMn announces sops worth over Rs 1,000 crore for J&K
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday announced a slew of sops amounting to over Rs 1,000 crore for Jammu and Kashmir, assuring the state that the Centre would do all it can to support it.
"Things have improved considerably, fund utilisation is better, but much more remains to be done," said Singh winding up his two-day visit to the state during which he held discussions with Chief Minister Oman Abdullah and interacted with leaders of various political parties.
The Prime Minister ordered restoration of cuts amounting to about Rs 400 crore to the state plan outlay for 2009-10. He also announced that the Centre has decided to dispense with the cutback of Rs 691 crore in the current year's outlay in the reconstruction plan, PM's Media Adviser said in a statement.
Singh expressed his disappointment that a section of the state government employees often respond to bandh calls by separatist groups and fail to discharge their duty in the service of the people, the statement said.
The Prime Minister, who had a one-on-one meeting with the Chief Minister before leaving for Delhi, took note of complaints relating to human rights.
Visiting the state amid allegations of fake encounters, Singh sent out a firm message to security forces, saying, "The government policy is to protect human rights of the people even when dealing with terrorism.
"The security forces in J&K have been strictly instructed to respect the rights of civilians. We will act to remove any deficiency in the implementation of these instructions," he said.
Noting that three Round Table Conferences had been convened with participation from many in the civil society and other political groups, the Prime Minister said the recommendations of these deliberations were being implemented in a step-wise manner.
Making a fresh offer of talks with those groups who shun violence, he said the process of talks could be extended.
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