Extend PMJVK to state capitals, metro cities: Union min

Union Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Ministry of Minority Affairs to extend the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) to state capitals and metropolitan cities instead of only in identified minority concentration areas.

It is necessary so that infrastructure support in areas such as education, health, skill development, empowerment of women can be made available in the cities as well, Pradhan said in a letter to Union Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a copy of which was released to the media on Wednesday.

Presently the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) sanctions projects under the PMJVK only in identified Minority Concentration Areas where there is more than 25 per cent minority population, and is relatively backward in socio-economic and basic amenities parameters as compared to the national average,