UDHAMPUR: Listing several development works that have taken place during the past ten years in Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh is the first in Jammu and Kashmir to launch his election campaign.

He has been representing the constituency since 2014 after polling a record number of votes. Among the five Lok Sabha constituencies in the Union Territory (UT), Udhampur will go to polls in the first phase on 19 April.

The supporters of Dr Jitendra Singh organised a large public meeting at Udhampur on Friday to mark the beginning of his election campaign, while the opposition Congress has not yet declared its candidate. BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh also addressed the rally.

Moreover, the INDIA bloc has not yet hammered out any seat sharing formula in Jammu and Kashmir. National Conference leadership has refused to leave even a single seat for the PDP or Congress in the Kashmir valley.

The BJP has so far announced Dr Jitendra Singh as the party's candidate for the Udhampur seat and Jugal Kishore for Jammu, but has not declared the candidates for the three seats of Kashmir.

DPAP chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad has announced his trusted lieutenant GM Saroori as his party's candidate against Dr Jitendra Singh. The Peoples Conference has fielded the party chief Sajad Lone for Baramulla constituency.

Enumerating the achievements of Udhampur constituency in the past 10 years, Dr Singh says that many of its parts during the Congress regime were hotbeds of terrorism but under Prime Minister Narendra Modi the area has become one of the most developed constituencies of the country.

He has posted on X a video showing Udhampur-Doda-Kathua constituency has witnessed in the past 10 years. He wrote that the constituency has witnessed numerous unprecedented development projects, many of them have also achieved the feat of being the "first-ever" not just in North India but also nationwide.

What the Udhampur constituency has seen is development of the road network even in the interior areas and construction on major bridges that have not only shortened the distance between places but also brought in economic development. The railways and highways connectivity in the constituency has considerably improved.

Despite being rich in natural resources, the Kishtwar district that has remained most backward, is now being developed as the hydroelectric generation hub of North India, Dr. Jitendra Singh points out.

The Aroma Mission, which has taken roots in the Bhaderwah sub-division of Doda district, has boosted the economy of the area and has also spread to Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya, he says.

Dr Jitendra Singh points out that North India's first government homeopathic college, centrally funded at a cost of Rs.80 crore, is coming up in the Kathua district that falls in his constituency.

Highlighting the medical infrastructure of Kathua built in the last ten years, he says the district now has a government medical college and a cancer treatment facility being provided by Tata Memorial Centre, Bombay.

"The addition of a government homoeopathic college will make Kathua an integrated and cost effective healthcare centre of North India," he said. Besides, he has a long list of development that has taken place in the constituency.