Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today chaired a joint meeting of various departments on winter preparedness here at Civil Secretariat and directed the concerned officers for the strengthening of a robust response mechanism for power restoration, essential supplies, water and road connectivity during winters.
The LG also directed the officials present in the meeting to use choppers of Raj Bhawan for medical emergencies in addition to the heli-services extended by the Central government in the cut-off areas such as Tangdhar, Gurez, Keran, Machhil, an official press release said.
“Take early measures for ensuring uninterrupted drinking water and power supply, besides, put in place a strong mechanism for ensuring smooth movement of traffic for continuous road connectivity ahead of the winter season with special focus on far-flung and snowbound areas. Apart from available helicopter service to cut off areas, the administration should use choppers at Raj Bhawan to help those in distress,” he added.
He also directed to ensure availability of public utilities like wood, ration, medicines and other basic amenities.
For road connectivity, the LG directed for acquiring all the necessary machinery required for snow clearance from the main and internal roads. In order to clear the inner lanes of villages of snow, where machines cannot be deployed, the administration can hire the trained manpower, and must clear the snow for smooth movement, the press release said.
Stressing upon synergy between various departments, the LG directed the officers to monitor and keep a close watch on the functioning of their respective departments for better coordination to avoid inconvenience to the public.
According to the press release, the LG also enquired about the availability and surplus of power transformers for the coming winter season and directed the Power Department to establish a task force to ensure power supply and gave strict directions for the availability of surplus transformers to cater to the need during the winter season.
The LG directed the Jal Shakti Department to take all the measures required to ensure that there is no scarcity of drinking water. He also stressed upon enough stock of fuel, cooking gas before winter sets in.
The LG also asked the top government officials to put in place every available facility including emergency services such as power back-up for hospitals, water pumping stations, important government offices and state of the art ambulance services at all hospitals, especially in the higher reaches.
The officials said snow control rooms will be established in every district headquarters by 15th October for smooth operation of snow-clearance mechanically and manually.
… reviews preparedness for B2V-III; asks officer to be ‘changemaker’
Srinagar, Sep 29: “Own the ambitious Back to Village programme and every single officer on the ground must work as a ‘changemaker’ to ensure benefits of governance reach the last man in the queue,” Lt Governor Manoj Sinha directed the officials today as he reviewed the preparedness for Back to Village-III here.
The programme starting from 2nd October aims to take the governance to the doorstep of people which is also seen as a unique effort of the government to strengthen the newly constituted Panchayats, an official press release said.
It said LG sought detailed report on action plan for the conduct of B2V-III programme and enquired about progress made under ‘Jan Abhiyan’ programme.
He asked all the stakeholders to put in dedicated efforts to complement the unique and sincere efforts of the government to reach the doorsteps of the people with responsive, accountable and equitable governance.
He issued directions to the DCs, ADCs, SSPs, ASPs and other senior officers of the districts to remain present at all Sub-Division headquarters in every district on rotational basis from 10 am to 4 pm every Wednesday, with officers and representatives of different line departments.
The LG also sought detail of activities to be conducted during the three day visit of over 4000 visiting officers, who will visit all Panchayats of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Focus on ensuring that funds and functions devolved to the Panchayats are used without any bottlenecks and the beneficiary schemes actually reach the people. Public services have to be target oriented and administration should ensure 100 percent saturation,” he added.
During the meeting, LG instructed all officers to gear up and gave a clarion call to own B2V-III for making it a huge success.
Discussions were also held on the issues of vacant government buildings, availability of playgrounds in every Panchayat, government handholding to Self-Help Groups, sanitation activities and to identify candidates for self-employment, the press release said.
Sheetal Nanda, Secretary, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj apprised the LG about the achievements recorded during Block Diwas under Jan Abhiyan. Three-day activity plan of visiting officers was also given during the meeting.
