While Jammu and Kashmir continues to reel under violence and terrorist attacks, the government on Monday announced that Dubai has signed an accord to build infrastructure in valley. According to a Reuters report, no figure for the value of the accord was given.
The government said the agreement will see Dubai building infrastructure including industrial parks, IT towers, multi-purpose towers, logistics centres, a medical college and a speciality hospital.
The memorandum of understanding by Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, is the first investment agreement by a foreign government in the region, following the scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and division of the state into two Union Territories.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal in a statement said, "the world has started to recognize the pace (at) which Jammu and Kashmir is traversing on the development bandwagon."
The statement said different entities from Dubai had shown keen interest in investment in Kashmir.
However, investment is filled with risks as evidenced by a spate of terrorist attacks on civilians.
On Monday, the authorities moved thousands of migrant workers in Kashmir to safer locations overnight.
A street hawker from Bihar and a labourer from Uttar Pradesh were killed in two back-to-back attacks by terrorists in the Srinagar and Pulwama districts of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.Over the past few days, several civilians have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, sparking fear in the Valley.Security forces in the union territory, over the past few days, neutralised 13 terrorists in encounters.
