Boarded a helicopter only becoming a union minister: Jitendra Singh

"I had never seen an aircraft or travelled by air till I was about 30," Union minister Jitendra Singh told a group of students on Monday, stressing how lucky they were to have travelled by air from Jammu to Delhi at this young age.

Singh was addressing a group of 150 students, hailing from Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, during an informal interaction.

Singh told them that they were fortunate to have travelled from Jammu to Delhi by air at this young age. "I had never seen an aircraft or travelled by air till I was about 30 and I boarded a helicopter for the first time only after I became a minister in 2014," he said.

The students are currently visiting Delhi as part of a 'Bharat Darshan' tour. The students, mostly in the age group of 13 to 15 years, were excited to tell the minister about their travel experience and the sites visited by them, an official statement said.

The students indulged in a free, frank exchange of ideas and also offered their opinions on diverse subjects.

When asked to detail some important features of Samba, they referred to its forts and also its Kandi belt. In turn, Singh reminded them that nearby was the ancestral village of Brigadier Rajinder Singh, who had attained martyrdom while holding back Pakistani invaders in 1947.

The students also spoke about their interests, hobbies as well as the curriculum of their studies. A number of premier educational institutions, including AIIMS and IIM, are coming up in their vicinity, they were told.

After spending two days in the national capital, the group of students is scheduled to fly to Hyderabad where their itinerary includes a visit to the Salar Jung Museum and other monumental places.

The 'Bharat Darshan' tour is being conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the local administration. The group includes a combination of boys and girls from government high schools as well as private schools, the release said.