GUWAHATI, Sept 4 - In a bid to implement the �North East model of development� in Jammu and Kashmir, a team of the Union Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER) will be touring the state.
The similarities between the two regions factored in the Centre�s plan to address similar development concerns across regions.
Stating this, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh today said that the ministry had already sent a team of DoNER to Jammu and Kashmir.
�They will be touring the State from tomorrow,� Singh told the media after the conclusion of a BJP party workshop for North East Zone. It was held as part of its National Unity Campaign, for �One Nation, One Constitution�.�
He said the team would study the different areas and analyse what could be�done for those lagging behind.�
Singh, who was in-charge of DoNER ministry in the first Modi Government also, pointed out that the North East and Jammu and Kashmir shared similarities of topography and natural advantages in certain sectors such as horticulture.�
�Now Jammu and Kashmir will get the model for development implemented in the North East. The Centre is concentrating on the peripheral areas. But Jammu and Kashmir was being deprived of the benefits other such areas were getting due to Article 370.
With its abrogation, people of Jammu and Kashmir will also enjoy all benefits,� Singh said.�
�Ladakh has been a victim of deliberate deprivation. But it will also now enjoy all benefits,� he added, with Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal sitting beside him.�
While justifying abrogation of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir as a necessary measure, Singh stressed that the special benefits enjoyed by the North-Eastern States under Article 371 would not be scrapped.�
He reasoned that it was necessary to abrogate Article 370, as�Pakistan was turning Jammu and Kashmir into the �fountainhead of terrorism�.
