Srinagar: The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha chaired the first Administrative Council meeting today during which several projects and schemes were given a go-ahead.
An official spokesman said that the Administrative Council (AC) which met here today under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved up-gradation, improvement and resurfacing of Mughal Road at an estimated cost of Rs 47.41 Crore for a total length of 84.11 Kms.
The decision of the Administrative Council is aimed at proper upkeep/maintenance of the road to check avoidable loss of human life in various road accidents and ensuring smooth vehicular movement, said the spokesman.
In recent years, Mughal Road being the alternate link between Jammu and Srinagar has gained significance by reducing the distance and travel time between Poonch- Rajouri districts of Jammu province and Srinagar and other districts of Kashmir province, said the spokesman, adding, the road has also brought to the fore, vast tourism to Shopian-Dubjan-Pir Ki Gali-Buflaiz-Surankote-Poonch-Rajouri sector. Besides the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri through Mughal road link have received access to medical and educational facilities available in Kashmir valley.
The AC also accorded sanction to the proposal of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Department to shift one of the four Fast Track Special Courts for POCSO to Ramban.
Earlier, it was decided that to exclusively deal with the cases of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, two courts shall be established one each at Srinagar and Jammu. Further, two more courts at Kulgam and Reasi were approved to be established exclusively for women related offences. However, taking into consideration the number of respective cases, it was decided to shift the seat of one of the Fast Track Special Court from Reasi to Ramban, said the spokesman.
The Council also approved allotment and transfer of land up to 99 kanals 16 marlas to the School Education Department at village Nownagri, Tehsil and District Pulwama, for construction of Jawahar Navodiya Vidyalaya (JNV).
Till the construction of school infrastructure gets completed, alternate arrangements for housing the JNV are being carried out, the spokesman said.
In yet another significant decision, the Council approved allotment and transfer of land measuring 2 Kanal and 10 Marla to the Health & Medical Education Department, for establishing Model Rural Health Research Unit (MRHRU) at Primary Healthcare Centre, Khag, Budgam.
The decision is aimed at transferring modern technologies/research to the rural areas and providing better healthcare to the people, the spokesman said.
The Administrative Council also accorded sanction to the submission of draft J&K Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and facilitation) Bill, 2020 to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India for its promulgation.
The passage of Bill will pave way for deeper integration of electronic markets network throughout the country through e-NAM (National Agriculture Market). Consequently, it will prevent leakages at intermediary level by eliminating brokers and distributors, thus enabling farmers to directly sell their produce in open market, said the spokesman.
He further said that for managing the assets and regulating activities of various fruit Mandis in J&K, the proposed Bill provides for establishment of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs). It further includes several provisions for welfare of farmers ranging from contract farming, direct marketing, special commodity market, setting up of markets in private and co-operative sector, to e-trading, single point of levy of market fee, single registration of market functionaries, unified single trading license and alike.
