Rail boost for Kashmir soon: PM Modi to flag off first Vande Bharat to Kashmir next week

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the first week of June, during which he is likely to inaugurate the first Vande Bharat Express to Kashmir Valley, senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina confirmed on Sunday.“The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will visit Jammu in the first week of June and will inaugurate the first Vande Bharat train to Kashmir,” said Raina, former J&K BJP President and current BJP National Executive Member, while speaking to Rising Kashmir.This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to J&K following the successful completion of ‘Operation Sindoor’, launched in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on May 22, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent tourists.The inauguration of the high-speed train, Vande Bharat, was earlier scheduled for last month, but it was postponed due to logistical reasons, officials said.Raina added that the exact dates of PM Modi’s visit are being finalised in coordination with security agencies. “It is most likely that PM Modi will visit Jammu on June 6, 7, or 8,” he said.The visit comes shortly after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day tour of the UT, during which he reviewed security arrangements and also visited Poonch and met shelling hit. Highly placed sources revealed that Shah held detailed discussions with top security officials in both Jammu and Srinagar regarding logistics, threat perception, and preparedness.Sources in the Railway Department confirmed that an earlier date of June 2 was initially communicated for the Vande Bharat launch but was later deferred.The Prime Minister’s visit holds special significance in the backdrop of recent anti-terror operations, as he has previously stated that “any act of terror will be treated as an act of war by India.”