Katra emerging as J&K’s tourism capital: Jitendra Singh

Jammu, Aug 10: Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh, on Sunday, while commending the launch of the new Katra-Amritsar Vande Bharat Express, stated that the holy town of Katra was fast emerging as the tourism capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Katra, after Delhi, is the only station in the country where four Vande Bharat Express trains are operational. It will boost pilgrim and tourism inflow, besides giving the desired impetus to local businesses. Katra manifests in the best possible manner – the top priority given to Jammu and Kashmir by the Prime Minister and his government after he (PM) took over the reins of the country in 2014,” he said.

The Union Minister stated this while speaking to media persons and addressing the gathering during the event at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Railway Station, vis-à-vis the inaugural run ceremony of Katra-Amritsar Vande Bharat Express. The train was virtually flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday from Bengaluru in Karnataka, along with two other trains for different parts of the country.

Singh reminisced that the Prime Minister had started his electoral campaign in 2014 after paying obeisance at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.

A few weeks after he took over as the Prime Minister, his first big public event was also in Katra when he dedicated Katra Railway Station to the country. Fifty years after the train reached Jammu, we saw it chugging beyond and reaching Katra only after Modiji became the Prime Minister,” he said.

Singh recalled that Katra was the only place to figure in the list in the first two phases of the introductory Vande Bharat Express trains’ roll out across the country.

Later in June this year, the Prime Minister, besides inaugurating the iconic Chenab bridge and dedicating the USBRL project to the country, gifted another Vande Bharat to Katra, running up to Srinagar, he reminisced.

“At present, railway works worth Rs 1300 crore are underway in J&K. In the annual budget, also, the works worth Rs 844 crore have been earmarked for J&K – probably the maximum for any Union Territory across the country. The past 11 years have witnessed the spread of the rail network across J&K, and Katra has emerged as the best-connected destination across the country. It is growing as the tourism capital of J&K. As far as connectivity is concerned, the Expressway corridor and Udhampur airport, once completed, will offer multiple options to people visiting J&K, thus leading to a boom in tourism and pilgrimage traffic,” the Union Minister said.

Singh also travelled in the train after the flag-off ceremony by the Prime Minister.

Earlier, he thanked the Prime Minister through his post on ‘X’ for the new train. “Thank you, PM Sh @narendramodi Ji for gifting the fourth #VandeBharat Express to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi #Katra…this one connecting with another holy town of Amritsar…thus making Katra one of the best-connected rail destinations in India. A great boon for pilgrims, tourists, businessmen and regular commuters!” he posted.

BJP MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, who also attended the event, said that Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Amritsar Vande Bharat, which was virtually flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, was a gift to the people of the region by him (PM).

He said that the new train will make commuting to Amritsar easier.

Students from Katra town also boarded the train.

Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, who was also present on the occasion, lauded the launch of the new train and described it as a proud moment for J&K people.

“We are fortunate to see the dream of railway connectivity to Kashmir turning into reality during the tenure of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,” he said.

MLA Katra Baldev Raj Sharma, MLA Reasi Kuldeep Raj Dubey, General Manager of Railways Ashok Kumar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager Jammu Vivek Kumar and other officials were present during the inaugural ceremony.

Along with this inaugural ceremony programme, an inaugural ceremony was also organised at Jammu Railway Station in which Rajya Sabha MP Gulam Ali Khatana, MLAs Vikram Randhawa, Surendra Kumar and Arvind Gupta, Chamber of Commerce president Arun Gupta and Additional Divisional Railway Manager Jammu, Akshay Kumar Marantu, were present.

Various cultural programmes were organised by school children in these programmes at Katra, Jammu and Pathankot. The children were awarded with appreciation letters during these events.

About 600 school children from Katra, Jammu and Pathankot Cantt participated in this programme.