Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine before attending the 25th National Conference on e-governance in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Khattar, a one-time pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), expressed happiness over the abrogation of the Article 370 by the BJP-led central government in August 2019 and said Jammu and Kashmir has come out of the terrorism phase and is now marching along on the path of development with rest of the country.

Scheduled to attend the silver jubilee edition of the national conference on e-governance, the Haryana chief minister straightway visited the Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta hills and offered his prayers before moving to the venue of the conference at nearby Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) in Katra.

"I had spent three years in J&K (as an RSS pracharak) when there was Article 370 in force and terrorism was at its peak. Our discussions at that time would mostly focus on the steps needed to be taken to tackle terrorism, safeguarding the people and restoring peace (in Jammu and Kashmir)," Khattar said.

Khattar said he is happy that Jammu and Kashmir has come out of the terrorism phase following the abrogation of the Article 370 and all central laws have become applicable.

"It is also a happy moment to see J&K marching alongside the rest of the country in the implementation of e-governance for ease of living and making big strides on the development front," he said.

The Haryana chief minister said his visit to J&K provided him an opportunity to meet old friends and no political programme was scheduled during his stay.

Later, addressing the participants at the national conference on e-governance, he said the day is not far when the traditional voting practice will be replaced by e-voting in the country.

"Linking voting rights to e-governance, where one can cast his vote at his home rather than visiting the polling station, is a possibility and there is nothing like that. In many countries, the practice of e-voting has already started," he said.

Khattar said many vested interests are not happy with the progress of the digitalisation of services because it has checked corruption, fast paced the delivery and benefited the people who need not to visit offices anymore.

"Even some politicians from both opposition and our alliance partners are also having an issue with it as they feel that nobody is now going to come to us," he said, adding e-governance has a lot of scope and a lot needs to be done in this connection.

The Haryana chief minister assured full support of his government to Jammu and Kashmir in realizing the true strength of the digitalization of the services for the benefit of the public.

"We are ready to provide consultancy, training or any other support which you need from us," he said.

-With PTI Input