Amit Shah to address VBSY rally and review security in Jammu on Jan 9

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a rally in connection with the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY), besides reviewing security situation in the backdrop of recent killings in border district Poonch during his day-long visit to Jammu on Tuesday.

Officials said the Home Minister will address a huge rally at Gulshan Ground, Jammu in connection with the VBSY which is an initiative to ensure that social welfare programs reach every individual in the nation, even the most remote. The VBSY is scheduled to last till January 26.

Shah will also handover appointment letters to the newly recruited youth in Jammu and Kashmir. It will be the first high-profile visit of the year in Jammu by the Home Minister. Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to visit the Union Territory (UT) either by the end of this month or at the start of next month.

The Home Minister will hold a detailed review of development projects in Jammu and Kashmir at a high-level meeting scheduled to be held at the Raj Bhawan. LG Manoj Sinha, Union Home Secretary AK Bhalla and senior officers of the civil administration are expected to attend the meeting.

Shah's visit comes weeks after a terror incident in Jammu's Poonch, in which four soldiers were killed and two injured when heavily armed terrorists ambushed two Army vehicles. A day later three civilians were allegedly killed in the custody of security forces in the same area.

Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army chief General Manoj Pande visited Jammu in the aftermath of the Poonch attack.

Last week Shah had reviewed the security situation of J&K with top functionaries in New Delhi, where he had instructed to strengthen the counter-terrorism operations in the UT to completely demolish the terror eco-system.

While advising the security agencies for appropriate deployment in vulnerable areas in the UT, the Home Minister had stressed that all due procedures should be adopted while dealing with counter-terror operations.