31 Parliament Members delegation arriving Kashmir today

Thirty one Members of Parliament (MPs) delegation will visit Kashmir on January 21 to take stock of various developmental projects, tourism revival and road connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir P K Pole said the Parliamentary delegation will be visiting Kashmir valley from Wednesday who will review the road, air and railway connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir.

Special Secretary to the Government and Secretary Tourism, Sarmad Hafeez said the Parliamentary delegation will also meet the officials from the Tourism department and other stakeholders associated with the department.

As per the sources, the delegation will start consultation with various stakeholders from January 21 to January 23 January.

During their stay, the delegation will meet with the officials of the Ministry of Tourism, J&K police, Institute Of Hotel Management, Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering and representatives from travel and hospitality sector. A special meeting has been held at SKICC for the travel and hospitality sector to see the challenges the tourism sector is facing and finding the ways for its massive publicity and promotion.

The delegation will explore the potential of tourist spots, their connectivity and outreach.

Similarly, the delegation will meet officials of road transport and highway, role of highways in nation-building with reference to the status of the national highway, status highway in Jammu and Kashmir.

This is the first big parliamentary delegation that will be visiting the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

On October 29, 2019, a delegation of 23 European parliamentarians visited Kashmir for a “first-hand” assessment of the situation in the erstwhile state.

Among the 31 MPs visiting the Valley, 11 members will be from Rajya Sabha and rest from Lok Sabha.

The delegation will be led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member T G Venkatesh. The other members from Rajya Sabha that will be accompanying him include Congress’s K.C. Venugopal,  Prasana Acharya from Biju Janata Dal (BJD), BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi,  Trinamool Congress (TMC) Derek O’Brien and others.

From Lok Sabha, the MPs that will visit the Valley include Congress’s Anto Antony, BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, Rajiv Pratap Rudy,  Indian National Congress (INC) K. Muraleedharan, Janata Dal United’s (JDU) Dinesh Chandra Yadav among others.

As per the schedule, on 21 January, the delegation will meet all the stakeholders in the tourism sector at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) to get the firsthand account of the tourism revival in the Valley.

The delegation will be staying in Hotel Taj during their stay in Srinagar. The delegation will also be travelling to famous ski-resort Gulmarg and will be staying at Hotel Khyber.

“The purpose of the visit is to get know the ground situation of the Valley post abrogation of Article 370, followed by the coronavirus pandemic,” sources said.

However, sources said that the delegation is unlikely to meet any political parties since the tour is an “administrative assignment”.

“As per the itinerary, there is no meeting scheduled with political parties. But, if any political party will try to reach out, then it is up to the delegation to take a call on it,” sources said.