Cabinet secy, 17 senior officials to visit J&K

A team of government officials led by Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekar will visit Jammu and Kashmir on Monday to review various infrastructure development projects, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state later this month.

The team, comprising secretaries from 17 ministries, will hold a discussion with various citizen groups in the state besides various commissioner-secretaries to review the Rs 30,000 crore Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan and will also review ongoing projects, official sources said on Sunday. During their two-day visit, the secretaries will also interact with the state bureaucracy on measures to effectively utilise funds and address the discontent among locals over development projects.

The Cabinet

Secretary will also call upon Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The team, which is likely to include secretaries from Home, Labour and Employment, Rural Development, Planning Commission, Tourism, Urban Development ministries, will review the ongoing schemes funded by the Union Government, the sources said.

The Centre had approved Rs 6,500 crore for the state for the fiscal 2009-10, which is a 40 per cent hike from the previous year. The increase comes following Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's meeting with the Prime Minister during which he sought special consideration and extra funds fordevelopment projects. In addition to the state plan, the Centre has also doubled the funds for PM's Reconstruction Plan from Rs 1,012 crore to Rs 3000 crore for the current fiscal.