The people of Udhampur celebrated the 70th Independence Day with patriotic fervor by attending the celebration functions in large numbers. Minister of State for Education, Technical Education, Culture, Tourism, Horticulture, Floriculture and Parks Priya Sethi unfurled the National flag and took salute from march past at the main function held at Government Degree College.
Addressing a huge gathering of 9000 citizens, the Minister congratulated people on the national festival and recalled sacrifices made by the army and security forces to protect the country from enemies.
She made a special mention of Captain Tushar Mahajan who was martyred while fighting militants in Pampore of South Kashmir; she commemorated all the brave hearts who laid down their lives while fighting for the nation. She further appealed to the citizens to serve the nation with devotion, honesty and truthfulness.
Highlighting the achievements of the Government, she said that the annual CAPEX budget of Udhampur district is approximately Rs 180 crores this year. Besides this she also outlined the achievements registered by different departments.
Reiterating the resolve of government expand the reach of education to every corner of the state, she said that under SSA, 388 school buildings are being constructed out of which 47 buildings have been completed while under RMSA the work on 23 schools is in progress .
The Minister further said that there was a huge scope for Horticulture in the district and added that 142 awareness camps and 50 mobile demonstration camps have been organized by the department in order to encourage farmers of the district for developing orchids.
“Series of training programmes were organized to impart training on’ Food Processing and Preservation’ to rural women to make them self-reliant, Sethi said while stressing on Women empowerment. The minister said that work on Patnitop ropeway project would be started soon in the district and various tourist places like Mantalai would be beautified.
Later, the chief guest gave away trophies, certificates of merit to the students who excelled in academics, march past and cultural items.
MLA Chenani Dinanath Bhagat, DIG Udhampur-Reasi Range Surinder Gupta, Deputy Commissioner Niraj Kumar, SSP Suleiman Choudhary, Additional District Development Commissioner Arvind Sharma, Additional Deputy Commissioner Angrez Singh Rana, ASP M.L.Kainth, Joint Director Planning Rakesh Jamwal, District Officers, prominent citizens, students and people in large number were present on the occasion.
