Terror attacks in JK see major drop after scrapping Article 370: Govt in LS

The number of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir has shown significant decline since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

In written response to a question, minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai gave data showing that only 206 terror incidents were reported in Jammu and Kashmir this year till December 5 as against 417 in 2018.

According to the data, 255 terror incidents were reported in 2019 and 244 in 2020.

The infiltration figures also showed a decline with only 28 incidents being reported till October 31 this year as against 143 in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, the minister said, 138 and 51 such incidents were reported respectively.

"Security grid has been further strengthened and infiltration of terrorists from across the border has also come down significantly," the minister said.

The central government abrogated Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 and bifurcated the state into union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The minister said the elections to block development councils and district development councils in Kashmir were conducted peacefully and successfully in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

"There was an enthusiastic participation of the people, with a turnout of 98.29 per cent in BDC elections and 51.42 per cent in DDC elections," he said.

Giving details of development in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said the progress of projects being implemented in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under the Prime Minister's Development Package-2015 has been accelerated.

"Fifty-three projects pertaining to 15 ministries are being implemented at a cost of Rs 58,477 crore in various sectors such as roads, power, health, education, tourism, agriculture, skill development, etc, out of which 21 projects have been completed/substantially completed and the remaining 32 projects are at advanced stage of progress," he said.

Rai said a new central sector scheme has been notified on February 19, 2021 for the industrial development of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, with an outlay of Rs 28,400 crore, which is likely to provide employment to over 4.5 lakh people while boosting the industrial development of the UT.

"The government of Jammu and Kashmir has approved business revival package of Rs 1,352.99 crore on September 25, 2020. Under languishing projects programme, 1,192 projects worth Rs 1983.77 crore were completed, including five projects which were incomplete for more than 20 years, 15 projects for more than 15 years and 165 projects for more than 10 years," Rai said.

The minister said the UT has been declared open defecation free under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

He said 100 per cent saturation has been achieved in 17 individual beneficiary centric schemes, including Saubhagya, Ujala, Ujjwala and Indradhanush.

"During the year 2020-21, 1,289 road construction works were completed at a cost of Rs 1,638 crore. The construction work of 14,500 km of road has been completed so far under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, which has connected about 2,000 places. Work is under progress on one All India Institute of Medical Sciences each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions at the cost of Rs 2,000 crore each besides seven other medical colleges in the UT...," Rai said.

Indian Institute of Technology Jammu and Indian Institute of Management Jammu have been made functional, he said.

The minister said power projects are being fast-tracked and generation capacity of 2500 MW is to be added by 2025.

"International flight from Srinagar to Sharjah has been started on October 23, 2021. In addition, night flights from Jammu and Srinagar have also been started. The scope of high density plantation scheme for apple has been expanded to include mango, litchi, cherry, walnut, etc, Kashmiri saffron has been given the geographical indication tag," he said.

The minister said 20,323 posts are being filled by the Jammu and Kashmir services selection board under fast-track recruitment process and 2,119 selections for gazetted posts have been made by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission in various departments.

"During the current financial year, 1,37,870 persons have been covered under various self-employment schemes of different government departments," he said.