Centre will send team to assuage Kashmiris September 3

New Delhi: Aiming to assuage feelings of the local population in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and to streamline administrative issues before the state is carved into two Union Territories on October 31, a high profile team from the Union ministry of personnel will visit the state next week, official sources said.

The move is seen as a measure by the Centre to soothe frayed tempers in the state, following criticism over clampdown in the Valley. The central teams will also mingle with the locals and try to guage their feelings, official sources said.

A team belonging to the ministry of development of the north eastern region (DoNER) will also visit the state soon to assist the local administration in the areas of horticulture and organic cultivation as it has a topography similar to the north-eastern region.

The visits of both the teams will be supervised by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh, who is also in charge of the personnel and DoNER ministries.

The personnel ministry team will visit J&K on September 3. It will meet governor Satya Pal Malik and other officials of the administration, and will look into issues related to staff and administrative reforms, official sources said.

As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the All India services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will be under the control of the LG, and not the elected government of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

The UT of Ladakh will be without a legislature and officers will be under the direct control of the central government.

Ever since the central government abrogated the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, a number of central teams have visited the state to assist the local administration in different areas, sources added.