Dineshwar Sharma meets J-K Governor

Centre's special representative for Kashmir Dineshwar Sharma Wednesday met Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik at Raj Bhavan here.

They discussed about the political and developmental aspirations of the people anda range of issues relating to the internal security situation and initiatives required for protecting and promoting the educational and career interests of youth, an official spokesman said.

He said Malik discussed with Sharma the recent initiatives taken by his administration for ensuring equitable development of the state and bringing accountability and transparency in the administrative set up.

Sharma congratulated the governor for incident free conduct of polls to the Urban Local Bodies and ongoing elections to the Panchayats, the spokesman said.

He said they discussed the crucial importance of establishing grass root level democratic institutions for the balanced development of an area.

Meanwhile, Sharma also called on senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta at his Gandhi Nagar residence here and discussed the present political scenario in the state with him, a party spokesman said.

Gupta, during his half-an-hour meeting with Sharma, lauded the policy of union government and saidthe state has suffered a lot in the matters related to development during the turmoil.

"Peace is imperative to take the state into an era of progress and prosperity," he said, addingthere has been decline in terrorist related activities as the army and security forces are carrying out effective operations to identify and kill the trained militants.

Gupta told Sharma that the firm stand of the union government has achieved tremendous success in checking the incidents of stone pelting and neutralizing the repeated bandh calls, the BJP spokesman said.

The former deputy chief minister said the faith of the people in democracy has further strengthened as large number of voters across the state came out to vote during the recently held ULB polls and ongoing panchayat elections despite threats and boycott calls.

He also discussed the issue of 5300 refugee families from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who settled outside the state and are deprived of the benefits which are conferred on those who are living in the state, the spokesman said.

The issue of West Pakistan refugees, safety of the Hindu temples and shrines in Kashmir, speedy work of ongoing road projects and construction of bunkers in border villages also came up for discussion during the meeting, the spokesman said.