Srinagar: Riding high on the success of ambitious ‘Back to Village initiative’, J&K government is planning to reach out to 50,000 youth for financial assistance under the next leg of Back to Village program, the details of which would be finalized soon, an official press release informed Wednesday.
It said that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha during his visits to various villages in the third phase of B2V program had explicitly underscored the need to involve youth in the developmental process to make them financially independent, and job-providers instead of job-seekers.
“Taking his vision forward, Jammu and Kashmir Bank advanced more than Rs 340 crores to as many as 19,600 youth from across the UT against the target of about 8800 youth. These youth were granted financial assistance, making them not only financially independent but also a source of livelihood to other families,” the press release said.
It said the LG during a high-level meeting of DDC chairpersons, Administrative Secretaries, and District Development Commissioners today announced that this year, the UT administration should aim to provide financial assistance to 50,000 unemployed youth in order to make them entrepreneurs.
“Last year, our target was to pick up two unemployed boys and girls from each Panchayat to make them entrepreneurs. The youth of Jammu & Kashmir have immense talent and till date, we have provided this opportunity to more than 19,000 boys and girls. This year our aim should be to reach out to 50,000 youths with all the assistance so that they can become entrepreneurs,” the LG observed.
Besides this, he said 18,000 posts have been advertised by SSB for recruitment in various departments. “More posts are being identified. We had promised 25000 jobs in the public sector/government departments. We are moving in that direction. We want to empower the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the youth,” he said.
“The grassroots democracy is flourishing in J&K for the first time. Youth have an important role to play in the decision-making process. We will ensure that the youth is given maximum opportunities,” he added.
Another “significant decision” taken by the government is that no work will be taken up by any department without following due procedure of tendering.
“Avoiding laid down procedures has been found leading to pilferages and quality issues. Tendering process will ensure transparency, accountability, and quality of works. Our aim is to ensure responsive, accountable, transparent governance. And we are here to see that we deliver what we promise,” the LG said.
Jammu Power Outages – Enquiry committee set up to fix responsibility
Srinagar: During a high-level meeting at the Civil Secretariat, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha assured the people of Jammu division that a Committee will be constituted by the Chief Secretary to enquire into the recent unscheduled power outages in various areas.
He said much before the onset of summer, several meetings were held under preparation plan to prevent erratic electricity supply in Jammu division for May-June when mercury soars high.
“Unscheduled power cuts that Jammu faced was not normal. That’s why, I have asked the Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta to constitute a committee to enquire into the matter and those found responsible should be given the highest punishment as permissible under the law. I want to assure the people that your sweat will not go in vain and officers responsible for your suffering will be punished soon,” the LG said.
According to an official press release, Sinha said despite losses to the tune of Rs 3,500 Crores incurred every year on electricity, the Union Territory is working round-the-clock to strengthen transmission, distribution network, and power generation capacity.
“The results were visible on the ground during winter when people in the Kashmir valley, for the first time, had uninterrupted power supply even during the snow,” he added.
“J&K has been bestowed with enormous hydro resources, however, out of total identified power potential of 14,867 MW, only 3504.90 MW could be harnessed in the past 70 years. In the last 11-months, we have finalized the projects that will generate 3500 MW within next four years. Transmission network upgradation works have been taken up, not just to evacuate power from the upcoming power projects, but also to provide robustness to the existing system spread across the UT as also to plan for the future power requirements with the ultimate goal of 24X7 power for all,” LG observed.
He said adequate key logistics in terms of transformers, poles and conductors have been stocked in remote areas in addition to divisional stores so as to ensure swift restoration in case of damage to electrical infrastructure due to weather vagaries.
