Kashmir Impulse Desk

Jammu, June 7

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday said border villages should receive the same level of development and opportunities as towns and cities, asserting that the government’s focus was to transform frontier areas into centres of growth and prosperity.

Addressing a public gathering during a visit to Nangali village in Poonch district, Sinha said border villages represented India’s first point of contact and should reflect the country’s progress and aspirations.

“Border villages are our first glimpse and India’s true identity does not just live in big cities; it thrives on our borders,” Sinha said, adding that his administration was committed to ensuring that residents of border areas enjoyed the same development and opportunities as those living in urban centres.

The LG said all 133 border villages in Poonch, including 18 villages covered under the second phase of the Vibrant Villages Programme, should emerge as centres of opportunity and prosperity.

He said the government aimed to provide greater opportunities for youth, women and children in border regions so that villages become places where people can build their futures rather than migrate elsewhere.

Highlighting development achievements in border areas over the past six years, Sinha said around 20 percent of families in Poonch’s border villages had risen above the poverty line.

He said road connectivity had reached 94 percent, telecom coverage 98 percent and healthcare coverage 100 percent, while average family incomes had increased by 25 percent.

“Our mission is complete saturation of welfare schemes, ensuring that no household is left behind,” he said.

LG Sinha also pledged that the government would “light the lamp of a brighter future” for Jammu and Kashmir through continued development and welfare initiatives.

Earlier, the LG joined the ongoing ‘Drug-Free J&K’ campaign and a padyatra in Poonch, calling for a united effort to eliminate drug abuse and narco-terrorism.

He said the anti-drug campaign had now covered all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir and would intensify over the next 43 days with the participation of citizens, panchayats and local communities.

“The objective is to free the soil of Jammu and Kashmir from the scourge of drugs and eliminate narco-terrorism,” LG Sinha said.

He warned that cross-border drug smuggling was not only destroying lives but also financing terrorism, particularly in border districts such as Poonch.

Citing action taken during the campaign, Sinha said authorities had registered 1038 FIRs, arrested more than 1130 alleged drug smugglers, detained 63 individuals under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act and attached over 100 properties linked to drug trafficking.

He said that around 700 driving licences had been cancelled and proceedings initiated to revoke 130 passports as part of efforts to dismantle drug networks.

The LG said law enforcement agencies had been given a free hand to act against narco-terror networks and that, under a newly issued standard operating procedure, individuals involved in drug smuggling would face stringent action, including attachment of movable and immovable assets under the NDPS Act.

LG Sinha urged youth clubs, women and community leaders to play a leading role in the anti-drug campaign, saying public participation was essential to achieving a drug-free Jammu and Kashmir.

“The road ahead is long, but we will not stop until every narco-terror network is dismantled,” he said.