Lt Governor reviews developmental scenario of Kathua

Kathua: Comprehensive mechanism is being put in place for carrying out developmental activities in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Ongoing development works are being monitored for their implementation in right earnest.
The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha made these remarks during his visit to Kathua District to review the developmental scenario of the district. During his visit, the Lt Governor met various public representatives and delegations to get first hand appraisal of local issues and developmental aspirations of the people of the District.
The Lt Governor also e-inaugurated developmental projects worth Rs 31.77 cr and laid e-foundation for projects costing Rs 18.87 cr.
Sh. Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner/Secretary, Transport Department; Sh. Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Sh. Mukesh Singh, IGP Jammu; HoDs of various departments and other senior officers accompanied the Lt Governor.
The Lt Governor called for regular review of mega projects including industrial Biotechnology Park, GMC Kathua to ensure their timely completion.
He observed that while formulating the District plan, convergence must be encouraged and special efforts must be put in to narrow the target achievement gaps. Plan must be practical and feasible to fulfill people’s aspirations, he added.
He asked the officers to lay special focus on prompt service delivery through speedy and timely disposal of public grievances and further directed them to mobilize all the available resources for completion of all ongoing and languishing projects. Stressing on inter-department coordination, he asked the officers to remove the bottlenecks, coming in the way of completion of any project, in a time bound manner.
The Lt Governor laid special emphasis on the saturation of Centrally Sponsored & individual beneficiary oriented schemes. He directed the concerned officers to ensure 100% coverage of eligible beneficiaries under these schemes.
He also directed the concerned officers to meet deadline of September 30 for 100% Aadhaar Seeding of Ration Cards, Aadhar Generation, and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) registration, besides other individual beneficiary oriented schemes.
The Lt Governor enquired about availability and supply of potable water in Kandi areas and directed the District Administration to take necessary measures in this regard. He further called for adopting a proactive approach in covering all the targeted households under the Jal Jeevan mission and other Water Supply Schemes.
On issuance of Domicile Certificates, the Lt Governor directed the Deputy Commissioner to speed up the process and take special initiatives to clear the pendency.
Taking cognizance of the seepage incidents in Border Bunkers made for the families of border residents, the Lt Governor directed to hold enquiry so that responsibility could be fixed for lapse, if any.
Regarding MGNREGA payments, he directed the Deputy Commissioner to ensure payments of wages within 15 days and further directed him to ensure MGNREGA wage payments through PRI’s of respective areas.
Prioritize projects near completion (with 75% to 80% work completed) so that the same can be completed before the third phase of B2V programme and ensure that no projects are delayed unnecessarily, the Lt Governor maintained. He exhorted the officers to ensure that minimum two works in each Panchayat across the District are executed before the start of third phase of Back to Village programme, commencing from 2nd October, 2020.
He asked the officers to undertake activities to reach out to the masses during Jan Abhiyan programme.
Taking serious note of the slow pace of the PMGSY projects in the district, the Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to expedite the pace of works to complete them within stipulated time.
On the Educational front, the Lt Government directed the Deputy Commissioner to submit a plan to cover 52 identified schools having no provision of water or electricity, so that necessary steps can be taken to ensure that 100% educational institutions are equipped with such basic amenities. He also called for taking up works under Convergence while planning the projects.
The Lt Governor called for developing more clusters under Integrated Farming Module to support the farming community. Innovative approach be adopted to help farmers so that their earnings can be doubled, he added. He further asked the DC to submit a comprehensive proposal for projects on integrated farming.
Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Sh. O.P. Bhagat gave a detailed District profile and briefed the Lt Governor about all the vital details of projects and expenditures of the district, besides implementation of various welfare schemes. He also briefed the Lt Governor about the COVID containment and management efforts of the District Administration.
Continuing his public outreach programme, the Lt Governor met various public representatives and delegations including BDC Chairpersons; Sarpanches & Panches; Women Sarpanches & Panches; delegation of Sarpanches and local representatives of border areas; ULB representatives; delegations of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities; Industrialists; Youth delegation; Progressive farmers and Horticulturists; members of Bar Association and representatives of various political parties included BJP, Congress, JKNPP and BSP who projected their concerning issues and demands pertaining to empowerment of PRI’s & ULB’s; bifurcation of big Panchayats; playfield for every Panchayat; approval of town Sewerage Plan; compensation for eroded land due to floods; mobile schools; Tribal Scholarship; effective implementation of welfare schemes; Special Revenue Tribunal to clear pendency; Medical Insurance and term insurance for Advocates on the line of Delhi ; restoration of Dogra Certificate, special recruitments in Kandi and Pahadi areas etc.
The Lt Governor observed that the government is taking comprehensive measures by reaching out to the people to resolve their issues and grievances. The UT Government is resolute to empower BDCs, PRIs & ULBs. Various measures have already been taken and more steps will be initiated in this direction, he added.
Addressing the delegation of Industrialists, the Lt Governor said that a committee under Advisor to Lt Governor, K.K Sharma has already been constituted to work out modalities for economic revival & extending support to the business community.
The Lt Governor assured the members of the delegations that all the genuine issues projected by them would be addressed on merit and also issued on the spot directions in respect of some issues projected during the interaction. He asked the people to provide valuable feedback about the working of the Government to make it more accountable.
BDC Chairpersons thanked the Lt Governor for mining rights and BDF. They also put forth the demand for inclusion of accidental death in Insurance coverage being provided to them.
The projects e-inaugurated today consisted mostly of road projects. The projects included – Construction of Road L026-T02 km 30th to Ramgarh; road L055-Thara Kalyal to Bhabhnun; road L023-mallaman to Mota Beor; road L066-L063 Km 5th to Sonkhal; road L077-Hatli to Badoli; Road L065-L064 km 5th to Faffal; road L072-T01 km 10th to Panyara; Road L033-Hore to Mandyal; road T01 km 4th to Saida road; 50 mtr span vented causeway on T01 km 4th to Saida road; road Kandharnoo to Lower Rajwalta; road from Bajwal Puli to Shitla Mata ji via Middle School Rampur; road from Marta Nagrota to Pantair via Bari and Khlow; link road from Dhaba/Tube Well Morh to Dug Well/ cremation Ground Sallan; road from PrantaPatyari to BalanTalab; link road from Kalaspur to Darhal Kathua; Link Road from Maroli to Kalaspur via Upper Govindsar; Road from Jasrota to RakhHoshiari; link road to ChakRijju Railway Station road; Sallan link road; 25 mtr span bridge on KrolaGharituptoKasori Road; 40 mtr span vented causeway onBhaiya&Mela link Road; Compound wall Additional class room Development of ground/pathway in Govt. Hr. Sec. School korepunnu; Link road from Bani to ParsooChak, Panchayat ChakDesaChoudharia and Renovation of Main Pond at Mearth, Block Barnoti, Panchayat Mearth.
E-foundations were laid for projects including construction of 120 m span double lane pre-stressed concrete bridge over BheeniNallah at Katli and Construction of 50 bedded Integrated AYUSH Hospital at Billawar (Mandli).