PM Modi arrives in Jammu and Kashmir to inaugurate Vaishno Devi rail link

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir for the inauguration of the Katra-Udhampur rail link on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_1602667” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PM Narendra Modi arrived in Kashmir amidst tension in the Valley regarding rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits. AFP[/caption] Katra is the base camp for devotees walking to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. This rail link is expected to make the pilgrims’ journey easier, with a rail link all the way to Katra. According to CNN-IBN, it took 12 years and Rs 1090 crores to build the rail link. Construction was done in four phases. The entire railway line is 25 km long. With 10 tunnels along the way, the rail link has 10.9 km of tunnelling. It has 36 small and big bridges, with one of the bridges having the highest pier height in the country. A report in Business Standard said that approximately 10 million devotees visit the Vaishno Devi shrine every year. “Till now there are three local train services between Jammu and Udhampur and all these will now be extended to Katra,” said a railway official in the report. The report added that the Katra station is fully equipped with facilities such as a  tourist guide counter, cloak room, waiting and VIP rooms, escalators, lifts and parking lots. Modi’s visit to Kashmir comes at a time when separatists have warned the government against any move to create separate residentila colonies for Kashmiri Pandits in the state, calling their proposed rehabilitation politically motivated. This will be Modi’s first visit to Jammu and Kashmir since he became the prime minister on 26 May at the head of a government of the BJP, which bitterly opposes any special status for Kashmir. On Thursday, the Majlis Itihad-e-Milat, a group of religious groups, warned the central government against moves to create separate settlements for migrant Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley. But it said the Pandits were welcome to return and settle at their ancestral places. “Kashmiri Pandits are an important part of our society. They are welcome to return to the valley and settle at their ancestral places or any other place alongside their Muslim brothers. But the move to create separate settlements for them will have serious consequences,” Mufti Bashir-ud-Din, the group’s president, told the media. Mufti Bashir-ud-Din is also the Grand Mufti of Kashmir. Majlis Itihad-e-Milat is a representative forum of about a dozen religious groups including the Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ahli Hadees. The Grand Mufti said 850 hectares of land had been identified to settle the Pandits, a move that would split Kashmiri society along religious lines. Separatists have called for a total shutdown in the Kashmir Valley on Friday. Sharp shooters, barricades, luggage checks and more - the security forces are taking no chances in Srinagar and other parts of the valley on the eve of Modi’s visit. With additional input from IANS