Govt committed to welfare of minorities in J&K: Syed Shahezadi

SRINAGAR, APRIL 21: Syed Shahezadi, Officiating Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities today said that the Union Government in committed to the welfare and progress of the minority communities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference at Srinagar, Syed Shahezadi said that the government is providing special focus to the overall development of Jammu and Kashmir and many initiatives and schemes are being taken in this regard.

She said that whole nation will progress when we work together and appealed everybody to contribute towards peace, progress and development.

Syed Shahezadi was on a four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir from April 18-21 during which she held interactions with minority groups and listened to their issues. She said that the issues highlighted by the minority groups will be brought to the notice of the relevant authorities to improve the standard of living.

Highlighting the various schemes and projects for the welfare of minorities she said that under PMJVK, 19 projects amounting to 314.33 lakhs have been sanctioned for providing better health, education and other facilities to the people of J&K.

She also said that government was committed to provide access to quality education to students from minority communities. She said the government was working with utmost sincerity to ensure welfare of these students through affordable, accessible and quality education and many schemes and scholarships are benefitting them.

Giving details she said that under pre-matric and post matric scholarships to the students of Jammu and Kashmir, an amount of 6.94 Cr and 26.3 Cr has been sanctioned respectively.

 50 students from Jammu and Kashmir have been provided benefits of free coaching for year 2021-22 for which an amount of 39 lakh has been sanctioned by the Union Government. Under Nai Udaan scheme, she said that 315 students from Kashmir have qualified to prepare for the civil services examination. She further said that Nai Manzil and Nai Roshni schemes have helped 7750 and 2450 beneficiaries.