Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday launched a Rs30 billion scheme for creating employment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir.

"During my last visit to the state in April this year, I had announced that 100,000 employment and self-employment opportunities will be generated," he said, while handing over cheques to 20 beneficiaries in Srinagar.

The Centre has started taking steps to implement the recommendations of the task force set up to work out details for the project of providing employment in the state, he said.

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and his Cabinet colleagues were present at the function.

Out of the Rs30 billion, Rs27 billion would be provided from budgetary support and the remaining as bank credits over a period of two years, Vajpayee said.

The sectors under which the employment opportunities being created are textiles, roads and railways, small and medium industries, information technology and communication, and tourism and education, he said.