SRINAGAR: Minister for Health & Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo, today convened a comprehensive review meeting to assess developmental works, infrastructure projects and welfare initiatives in the Mendhar and Rafiabad Assembly Constituencies.
Besides, Cabinet Ministers Javed Ahmed Rana and Javid Ahmed Dar, the meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Higher Education Shantamanu; Secretary Health & Medical Education, Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah; Director School Education Jammu; Director Health Services Kashmir/Jammu, and other senior officers of the concerned departments.
During the review, Sakeena Itoo emphasized the need to accelerate ongoing projects in both constituencies, with a focus on healthcare, education and implementation of social welfare schemes.
She impressed upon the concerned officers to iron out all the issues that delay public service delivery.
Highlighting the government’s responsibility towards border and rural constituencies, she said that Mendhar and Rafiabad deserve equal opportunities in development.
“Our priority is to ensure that healthcare, education and basic facilities reach every household to ensure equitable access to public services for remote and border areas,” she said.
She said that our government is committed to the promise of outreach, inclusion, and today’s evaluation will feed into immediate corrective steps and future planning.
Earlier, raising the issues of the school education sector in Mendhar, Minister Javed Rana highlighted the lack of staff strength in border areas in schools and called for urgent measures to fill those staffing gaps.
He urged upon the concerned to expedite the completion of Model School in Pathanatir, girls’ hostel in Balakot and Mendhar and other buildings where work has been going on for a long time.
During the meeting, Rana highlighted the issue of the absence of science subjects in several schools across the constituency. He stressed for the immediate introduction of science streams in these institutions, emphasising that access to modern education is essential for empowering the youth and enabling them to compete on par with students from other regions.
Regarding the health sector in the Mendhar constituency, Rana stressed the urgent need to fill the existing vacancies in the Health Department. He emphasised expediting recruitment and ensuring that health centres and hospitals are adequately staffed so that quality medical facilities are made accessible to all residents. He further called for optimal utilisation of Medical Mobile Units in the constituency so that medical care is provided to nomadic and underserved populations.
Minister for Agriculture, Javed Dar highlighted the issues pertaining to his constituency and stressed for filling of vacancies across all educational institutions. He also raised the issue of abandoned buildings and called for taking some concrete measures to complete those buildings. He also raised certain issues of the Government Degree College Bomai, the Girls’ Hostels in Watergam and Rohama. He also raised the issue of SDH Rohama and called upon the concerned to arrange funds for its completion.
He also raised the issue of pending compensation to land donors and urged upon the concerned to resolve the matter at the earliest.
While listening to the issues raised, Sakeena Itoo emphasised on transparency in the completion of pending projects and assured that the raised issues will be taken to their logical conclusion.
She also said that a plan will be drawn to fill staffing gaps in healthcare and educational institutions in both constituencies for better public service delivery.
She directed the concerned to undertake several measures like rational deployment of existing human resources and creating mechanisms to ensure timely filling of future vacancies, so that hospitals, health centres, schools, and colleges in these constituencies function at their full capacity and provide uninterrupted services to the people.
