Photographs: Umar Ganie/Rediff.com Mukhtar Ahmad
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Leh and Kargil in his second trip to the state ahead of the polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Leh town of the cold desert frontier region of Ladakh on Tuesday morning on a one-day visit.
The PM was received at the Leh airport by state Governor N N Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Chief of the Army Staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag and senior state government and police officers.
This is PM’s second visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Modi had inaugurated the Udhampur - Katra rail link last month linking the pilgrimage town of Katra with rest of the country and facilitating the pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi. Elections are due in Jammu and Kashmir later this year.
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Mission Kashmir: Modi first PM to visit Kargil since 1999 war
Photographs: Courtesy: DD News/Twitter Mukhtar Ahmad
On Tuesday, the PM began his visit with Leh, where he is addressing army officers and jawans, who guard the border at a very high altitude, including the world's highest battlefield in the Siachen glacier He will inaugurate the 45-MW Nimoo Bazgo power station in Leh and then address a public rally in the Buddhist dominated down. The rally venue has been tastefully decorated for the visit.
He will later fly to the Muslim-dominated Kargil region where he is inaugurating 44 MW Chutak power project followed by a rally. The rally venue has been bedecked with arches and buntings for the visit. Modi is the first prime minister visit Kargil after the 1999 war.
He will also lay the foundation stone of Rs 1700-crore Leh-Srinagar transmission line. The Ladakh region is right now dependent on small micro-hydel power projects and diesel generating units for power supply.
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