Lt-Governor Manoj Sinha is trying to strike a chord with the Kashmiri youth by flying across the Valley, including terrorism-hit Shopian in south Kashmir, and providing an opportunity to the youngsters to interact with him.

Participating in the third edition of the Back to Village (B2V3) programme launched in the Union Territory, Sinha is these days visiting different parts of the Valley and his focus is youth and rural masses.

Sinha’s flights to the terror hit areas have generated positive vibes and people were bringing to his notice their problems also directly on his tweeter account which the Lt-Governor has kept open for the public. During a recent interaction with media persons here, Sinha said he was getting vital feedback about functioning of the officialdom on his social media account from the common people.

He underlined the need to change the narrative about the youth and said proper opportunity to youth in sports, education, entrepreneurship, employment, and other fields will certainly usher development in the UT.

During his visit to Shirmal village in Shopian on Friday, Sinha mingled with the youth and asked the misguided boys to shun militancy and return to the mainstream as the government was ready to rehabilitate them with jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. He sought help of the youth in making J&K a role model of development and prosperity.

International and National Sqay martial arts players Suzain Zahoor, Faizan Ayoub, Laiba Imtiyaz and Urkan Lateef said the facilities and support of the administration will give wings to their dreams.

He inaugurated a youth recreation centre and nomadic Gujjar & Bakerwal hostel library and also laid foundation stone of 100-bedded Girls’ hostel costing Rs 3.34 crore. The library was dedicated to inhabits of 100 capacity hostel completed recently. Students living in the hostel from Class 6 to 12 can use this library 24×7 to make their future bright and become a useful resource for the society. The library contains 4,000 books with all kinds of information to fulfill the syllabus needs and increase the knowledge of the students of the Gujjar & Bakarwal hostel.

Sinha presented sports kits to youth and other assistance to facilitate sports activities. To motivate school dropouts, he presented school bags to 57 dropout girls.

The Lt-Governor called upon the youth to take advantage of the new wave of educational and business reforms being incorporated by the J&K administration. He said two candidates from each of the nearly 4,900 panchayats are to be identified and assisted by the Special Desk of Jammu & Kashmir Bank.

During a visit to north Kashmir’s Bandipura, Sinha presented loan assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to two educated young aspiring entrepreneurs of Nesbal Panchayat.

However, Sinha’s Kashmir centric announcements have upset the youth and political activists in the Jammu division where the feeling of discrimination was deep-seated.