Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the the progress of ambitious Udhampur-Baramulla rail link project and gave explicit instructions to expedite the work and complete it by next year, an official spokesman said.

PM Modi fixed the 2020 deadline for the ambitious project connecting Srinagar to Indian Railways network while chairing his 31st interaction meet through PRAGATI with secretaries of various Union ministries and chief secretaries of various states and Union territories, the spokesmansaid.

He said Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam also participated in the video conference as the prime minister reviewed nineprojects related to 16 states and the Union Territory of J&K. The prime minister reviewed the progress of infrastructure connectivity projects,including that of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), and gaveexplicit instructions on speedy completion of the project by next year, thespokesman said. Reviewing the progress of A spirational District Programme, theprime minister was apprised of 49 performance indicators including the bestpractices in grafted Walnut and High Density Apple Plantation in Kupwaradistrict of north Kashmir, the spokesman said.Calling it an act of"national service", Modi emphasized on the need to decide ontimelines to bring the backward districts up to the national average.

He also stressed that young officers must be deployed inaspirational districts, the spokesman said.

He said prime minister was also briefed about the progressin National Agriculture Market platform which has helped in better pricediscovery.

"E-payments are now being made directly into theaccount of farmers. Progress in the development of two integrated e-Mandis inJammu and Kashmir was also reviewed," the spokesman said.

He said the PM directed that based on e-models of demandaggregation, the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways and the Ministry ofAgriculture and Farmers' Welfare should work together on a new start-up modelof logistics support, particularly with regard to the transfer of agriculturalproducts from one state to another.He said all the states must come togetherand use a common, integrated platform for the smooth operation.

Prime Minister Modi desired that long-delayed projects shouldbe expedited by the respective state governments, the spokesman said, adding healso directed that the reports on the progress of such projects be sent to hisoffice regularly.