RAJOURI, APRIL 21: The District Development Board (DDB) Rajouri which met here under the chairmanship of Minister for Agriculture Production, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura approved the annual plan of Rs 198.94 Cr for the year 2018-19 after brainstorming discussions and deliberations.
Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, Minister for Animal & Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, Abdul Ghani Kohli, Vice Chairman J&K State Advisory Board for development of Pahari Speaking People, Kuldeep Raj Gupta, Vice Chairman J&K State Advisory Board for development of Gujjars and Bakerwals, Gulzar Khatana, Legislators, Ravinder Raina, Qamar Hussain, Vibod Gupta, Surinder Choudhary, Heads of various Departments and other Senior Officers were present in the meeting.
The board embarked on the issue of 587 incomplete buildings under SSA and 114 under RMSA besides repair of schools damaged in cross border firing. It was decided that the concerned heads shall project these incomplete school buildings in State plan and prioritize their completion whereas buildings damaged in cross border firing shall be repaired under SDRF.
Meanwhile DDC was asked to devise mechanism for completion of school buildings in convergence mode under MGNREGA. Decision was also taken for transfer of 3 Kanals land of Animal Husbandry Department at Sunderbani to Health Department for expansion of Sub-District Hospital Sunderbani and alternate land shall be made available to the AHD.
It was also decided that the land belonging to the Police Department shall be transferred to Health Department for setting up of Trauma Hospital to manage accident cases Jammu-Rajouri-Poonch highway.
Responding to the issue of pending payments under MGNREGA, Director Rural Development was directed to devise comprehensive mechanism to ensure timely payments under MGNREGA. The meeting held point wise review of the action taken on decisions of previous Board meeting.
The chairman directed for evolving effective mechanism for the implementation of all the decisions in letter and spirit so that benefits percolate down to the grassroots level. He called upon the heads of departments to personally ensure that board decisions get implemented by removing bottleneck, if any, in implementation of the decisions.
Chairman DDB Rajouri, Hanjura expressed satisfaction over the performance of the district administration in the optimal utilization of the available funds. He exhorted upon the officers to put in more dedicated efforts and work with added zeal to complete all schemes targeted under the annual plan 2018-19. For issues raised by the legislators, the minister directed the concerned officers to address the issues in time bound manner.
With an aim to ensure proper education to the students belonging to nomadic populace with no school dropouts, the minster impressed upon DDC to submit a detailed proposal for making boarding and lodging facilities for these students.
Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, while speaking on the occasion, reiterated the government’s commitment for steering the state on developmental path.
He said to address the issues of public in time bound manner and to remove bottlenecks in execution of projects the government has strengthened the administration at grassroots level by sanctioning 5 more ADC posts in the district.
Kohli, while speaking on the occasion, said the government is fully aware of the issues and problems of the people living in rural areas and necessary measures are apace to mitigate these problems.
He said that the development process is being supervised by a transparent and accountable administration provided in the district. He also directed concerned to expedite the construction of Khawas bridge.
Vice Chairmen and Legislators raised important developmental issues vis-a-vis up-gradation of road infrastructure, placement of sufficient staff in education and health institutions and their up-gradation as per the population they cater, provision of ambulances, electrification and road connectivity of left out villages, making available clean drinking water in rural areas besides completion of ongoing schemes under various sectors.
Earlier, DDC Rajouri, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary made detailed presentation on physical and financial achievement of all departments under CAPEX budget 2017-18 and status of decisions taken in previous board meeting. He informed that of Rs 162.26 Cr made available against approved outlay of Rs 205.01 Cr, the district has made expenditure of Rs 153.84 Cr with 94.81% financial achievements.
