JAMMU, MARCH 06: An annual outlay of Rs 139.11 crore was approved for District Kishtwar for the financial year 2017-18 by the District Development Board (DDB), which met here today under the chairmanship of Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat.
Minister of State for Transport, PWD (R&B) and Revenue, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Chairperson, J&K Social Welfare Advisory Board, Prof Nirmala Gupta, Vice Chairman, Advisory Board for the Development of OBC, Rashpal Verma, Vice Chairman, Advisory Board for the Development of Kissan, Mr Daljeet Singh, Vice Chairman, Advisory Board for the Development of SC/ST, Bushan Lal Dogra, Legislators, G M Saroori, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, Firdous Tak, Shyam Lal Bhagat, Naresh Gupta, Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar, G N Balwan, SSP Kishtwar, Sandeep Wazir, Heads of various departments and all District Officers attended the meeting.
While reviewing the status of physical and financial achievements under different sectors in the district during the current financial year, the Chairman called upon the officers and agencies to make concerted efforts to accomplish the targets. He directed them to adopt pro-active approach for executing the works on various on-going developmental projects so that these are completed in a time bound manner. He stressed the need for improving the monitoring mechanism to ensure quality of works and judicious use of funds on creating the sustainable community assets.
The Board expressed satisfaction on the achievements under various essential sectors during the current fiscal and urged the concerned to put in their best efforts to utilize the available funds in full and accomplish the set targets before the close of the financial year. They were directed to focus on grey areas where the low progress has been achieved. The Board expressed its concern on the poor pace of progress on some key projects like Naigad PHE scheme and Lift Water Supply Scheme at Kishtwar and directed the concerned authorities to take all necessary steps to clear the bottlenecks and speed up the efforts for their time bound completion.
The DDB held marathon discussion on the plan proposals for the next financial year and directed the administration to prioritize the projects and make serious efforts to complete them in a time line by ensuring quality standards strictly as per the specifications so that the benefits of the infrastructure so created percolate down to the needy population. The Board directed the District Development Commissioner to maintain close coordination with every department and regularly monitoring the progress of each work so that the projects don’t get delayed on any account.
The DDB directed the concerned authorities to pay special attention on the projects under road, health, education, PDD, horticulture, agriculture, rural development sectors, which are key to the socio-economic development of the district. The Chairman stressed the need for active involvement of legislators in decision making and formulation of new schemes which can go a long way in achieving the objective of sustained development.
The legislators highlighted the important issues related to their constituencies and called for incorporating these in the Plan. The issues which were projected by them mainly pertained to upgradation of roads, augmentation of PHE schemes, education infrastructure, PDD, construction of community assets, regular supply of ration to the far-flung areas, re-survey for identification of left out BPL beneficiaries, fixing of adequate amount of compensation for the road accident victims etc.
Mr. Sunil Sharma said that the Government has changed the pattern of passing the annual budget for two months advance to enhance more working season, especially in the snow-bound areas. He hoped that the departments/agencies will be in a position to concentrate on the developmental activities and achieving their physical targets well in time. He urged the officers to take full advantage of the situation.
Prof. Nirmala Gupta sought exemption of Adhar Card requirements for the differently abled persons as they are unable to get this document prepared due to their disability.
Mr. G.M. Saroori called for immediate release of funds for the next year so that the works are physically started on ground immediately. He called for upgradation of school in ST Basti in his constituency, construction of Dak Bungalows which have already been sanctioned. He also urged for immediate supply of ration quota and sought action against the staff responsible for non-supply of ration for the past three months.
Mr. Sajjad Kichloo sought speedy upgradation of roads and PHE schemes in Kishtwar town. He also soguht steps to curb road accidents and compensation for accident victims.
Mr. Firdous Tak demanded upgradation of High School Trigamand upgradation of infrastructure in the old Kishtwar city.
Mr. Naresh Gupta sought intervention of the DDB for constitution of Shri Machel Mata Shrine Board in view of heavy influx of pilgrims to the shrine. He also demanded Degree College at Padder, resumption of preparation of Adhar Cards, road widening from bus stand to Kuldeed Chowk.
Briefing the Board on the achievements registered so far under different sectors, the District Development Commissioner said that out of the approved outlay of Rs. 135.12 crore for the current financial year, an amount of Rs. 120.02 crore was released, of which Rs.103.29 crore stands utilized under various important sectors thereby achieving a target of over 86 per cent by ending February, 2017. He said that the work on various on-going projects is in progress and all out efforts will be made to achieve the targets in full by the end of current financial year.
Listing the details of achievements under important sectors, the DDC informed that under PWD (R&B) sector, out of an approved outlay of Rs. 39.86 crore, an amount of Rs. 18.46 crore was released and Rs. 9.90 crore have been spent by ending February, 2017 on various road projects, which are at different stages.
Similarly, under PHE sector, an amount of Rs. 3.77 crore has been spent out of the total release of Rs. 4.50 crore on various on-going schemes. Under MGREGA, an amount of Rs. 89.23 lakh has been spent against a total availability of Rs. 95.03 lakh by completing 1647 works and generating 25 lakh man-days during the current financial year.
Later, the House unanimously approved a CAPEX Budget of Rs. 139.11 crore for the district for the year 2017-18.
|