SRINAGAR: Minister for Jal Shakti, Forests and Tribal Affairs, Javed Ahmed Rana, today in a meeting attended by senior functionaries in the administration took stock of the rehabilitation of Waltengoo snowstorm victims.
The Minister also discussed several issues of the tribal population for their early resolution.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo; Principal Secretary, Home/DMRR&R, Chandraker Bharti; Deputy Commissioner, Kulgam, Athar Aamir besides other concerned officers.
The Minister took this occasion to highlight the plight of those affected by the storm in the year 2005 at Waltengoo in District Kulgam and yet to be rehabilitated by the government.
He impressed upon the administration to make efforts to rehabilitate these households by establishing a model colony for them inclusive of all the allied facilities like school, hospital, better roads and other useful amenities for the residents.
The Minister observed that the welfare of this community should be a priority and this government too has this on its agenda to make the best of the provisions available to them in order to alleviate their lifestyle as per the demands of changing times.
He stressed on resolving this pending humane issue on priority keeping the gravity in consideration. He encouraged them that the Tribal Affairs Department would also take steps to create livelihood opportunities for them to settle for better.
The Chief Secretary assured the Minister that there is no paucity of funds to take up tribal welfare projects. He made out that the government is going to take every measure to rehabilitate the families in a respectable manner.
He directed the district administration to make a proposal to take up the balance work of the apartment blocks left incomplete. He further advised them to ascertain the needs on the ground before framing the fresh proposal.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner, Kulgam, Athar Aamir briefed the meeting about the current status of the rehabilitation of the victims affected by the 2005 snowstorm in the village of Waltengoo there.
He gave out that out of the 120 affected families, 70 stands were rehabilitated earlier and for the rest of the 44 families work on 3 apartment blocks has been completed upto 80% and would be taken up under district capex as the necessary administrative approval and technical sanction has been secured by them.
The other issues which came up for discussion include the readiness of the Tribal Research Institute, the functioning of District Tribal offices and the providing of staff for the same besides other issues of areas inhabited by the tribal community here.
