BARAMULLA : Union Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Saurabh Gaur, today visited Baramulla district to get first hand appraisal of development indicators and parameters identified under centrally sponsored “Aspirational Districts” programme besides reviewing implementation of other schemes in the district.

After taking a comprehensive sector wise review of several schemes, Saurabh Gaur, who is also the Central Prabhari Officer for District Baramulla, expressed satisfaction over the progress achieved so far.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Joint Secretary highlighted the importance of Aspirational District programme saying that this innovative programme is aimed to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country. The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers and District Collectors) and Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking; all driven by a mass movement. The Baramulla district has been chosen as one of the Aspirational districts in the country. He said that districts are ranked based on the progress they have made on key indicators of health, education, agriculture, basic infrastructure, financial inclusion and skills development.

While assessing performance of different departments, Saurabh Gaur issued instructions to DDC to monitor all the developmental works and accomplish the pending task in a time bound manner. He also congratulated district administration Baramulla for achieving milestones under Aspirational district Programme by ranking among top 5 districts of the country in NITI AYOG’s Delta Ranking 2021.

The Central Prabhari Officer laid specific emphasis on departments to work in a close coordination and synergy to remove all impediments in a time bound manner so that the progress and development is not hampered.

District Development Commissioner, Baramulla, Bhupinder Kumar, presented a detailed overview of developmental activities and sector wise achievements recorded under under Aspirational District Programme.

Later, Joint Secretary visited Khawajabagh Baramulla where he reviewed the horticulture scenario besides inspecting some of the high density orchards.

Joint Secretary also visited Boniyar to review development projects being executed there. He issued on spot directions to the concerned officers for timely completion of such vital works.

The meeting was attended by Additional District Development Commissioner Baramulla, Aijaz Abdullah Saraf, Joint Director Planning, M. Yousuf Rather, concerned district officers besides Sub Divisional Magistrates of Pattan and Tangmarg.