Kathua (J&K), Dec 24 (PTI) Accusing the opposition parties of following a policy of appeasement to the extent of being inhuman, Union minister Jitendra Singh alleged on Saturday that they discriminated against the people living along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir purely for vote considerations.

Singh was addressing a large public rally after laying the foundation stone of a Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) road from Bakhta to Magloor in the Jalota area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

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The Union minister of state for personnel alleged that the previous governments led by these parties crossed all limits of ethics and propriety when they allowed reservation for those living along the LoC in Kathua district and areas of Poonch from where they got their MLAs elected, but denied the same benefit to the people living along the IB or the Pakistan border mostly in Kathua and Samba districts because they did not vote for them.

Singh said this discrepancy was corrected only after the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre and the people living near the IB were also given justice by granting a four-per cent reservation to them on the lines of those living along the LoC, according to a statement issued by the personnel ministry.

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On the occasion, the Union minister also announced the setting up of a satellite hospital, Tata Cancer Centre, at Kathua.

This, he said will provide a hi-tech facility for cancer patients from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Jammu's Udhampur constituency, said before 2014, there were neither toilets nor mobile connectivity nor electricity along the route of the holy Machil Yatra.

"It is this government which set up toilets and mobile towers there and recently, sanctioned one exclusive solar power plant for the village," he said.

Singh also referred to one of the country's first monuments to be named after Syama Prasad Mookerjee at the Chenani-Nashri tunnel.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)