Naqvi interacts with locals at Srinagar's Lal Chowk

Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said that the environment in Jammu and Kashmir was positive and that the government will reach out to the people and inform them about the change.

"There is a positive environment and we are spreading this positivity among other people too by communicating with them. We are working to create a strong environment of change," Naqvi said while interacting with locals at historic Lal Chowk in city center Srinagar.

Amid unprecedented security arrangements, Naqvi had a brief chat with street vendors and shopkeepers in the city center. The traders presented bouquets to the minister and greeted him on the occasion.

Witnesses said that police and security forces personnel were deployed in strength in and around Lal Chowk since the wee hours. Naqvi, who is on a two-day visit to Srinagar as part of the Center's outreach program to J&K, said that the government in the present atmosphere in Kashmir will reach out to the people and inform them about the change post abrogation of Article 370.

Talking to reporters, he said that the Center government was committed to the overall development of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “People are very enthusiastic and the environment in Kashmir is positive,” he said.