Srinagar, September 12, (Vijay Kumar) –J &K Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Saturday approves Rs 179.74 crore for District Development Annual Plans of Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal of J&K state while chairing the separate meetings of District Development Boards of Baramulla, Bandipora and Ganderbal at SKICCin Srinagar.
He directed the administration to take on board legislators in the process of allocation of funds for the schemes under State Sector and Centrally sponsored schemes. “The members of the District Development Boards should be fully apprised of the funds earmarked in their districts for various works under the State Sector and for Centrally sponsored schemes”, he said and added that this will give them a holistic view of financial allocations and action plan for the district so that they are able to monitor every scheme and give their feedback about the status of progress.Omar said that this will also enable the legislators to help fast track completion in accordance with the financial availability.
The Chief Minister approved Rs. 65.16 crore District Annual Plan for Baramulla which includes Rs. 3.35 crore additionalities. The plan is subject to the increase on account of actual revenue expenditure. He also announced Rs. 5 crore from the State Sector for the development and upgradation of roads, bridges in the district.
Omar announced additionalities of Rs. 1.25 crore for self-employment, Rs. 60 lakh for PY, Rs. 50 lakh for sports facilities, Rs. 50 lakh for Baramulla Water Supply Scheme and Rs. 50 lakh for the sports stadium Sopore.
The Chief Minister constituted a Committee comprising Law Minister, Revenue Minister and Minister for Agriculture to be headed by Law Minister to look into the strengthening of the Act regarding the land use so that haphazard and unplanned constructions on agriculture lands is restricted. “The members of the Board have expressed concern in various Board meetings regarding the conversion of agriculture land into commercial and residential purposes”, he said and added that this issue needs to be addressed properly and in its right perspective.
Omar also directed the Forest Minister to seek the expert opinion about the reported ill effects of popular eucalyptus on ground water table and frame a comprehensive report so that this issue is tackled accordingly. The Chief Minister gave this direction in response to the point in this regard raised by some members of Board.
Omar said that a comprehensive policy for replacement, improvement and upgradation of LT and HT lines besides upgrading the power distribution and transmission system is being put into place to cater to the needs of electric poles, LT and HT lines and transformers in the rural and urban areas. “I want to address this problem brought to my notice by the legislators in almost all Board meetings by evolving a viable and purposeful strategy”, he added.
The Chief Minister said that it would be wiser for taking up in hand only those schemes for which sufficient funds are earmarked and the works are completed within the prescribed timeframe rather than taking up huge number of schemes for execution without completing anyone of these.
Omar fixed two weeks time for the executing agencies to finalize financial and technical aspects for each work and asserted for starting the actual work on ground by middle of October. He underscored the need for judicious utilization of funds and constant monitoring by the higher authorities. “The administrative secretaries should personally monitor the tour dairies of the field officers and heads of the departments should visit the schemes to ascertain the physical and financial progress”, he said and added that the State presently has financial availability of about Rs. 10,000 crore and the challenge before the administration is to spend the amount correctly, judiciously and in the right direction for the benefit of the people.
While chairing the meeting of District Development Board Bandipora, the Chief Minister approved Rs. 54.89 crore District Annual Plan including Rs. 6.04 crore additionalities for the district.
Omar announced Rs. 2 crore for Sumbal-Bandipora road, Rs. 1.44 crore for Guzarbal bridge, Rs. 50 lakh for lanes and drains in Gurez, Rs. 50 lakh for generators for Gurez, Rs. 10 lakh for life saving drugs for Gurez, Rs. 50 lakh for Angai bridge, Rs. 50 lakh for sports facilities and Rs. 50 lakh for Gurez Dak Bungalow.
The Chief Minister said that an amount of Rs. 643 crore has been set aside in the current year’s plan for the matching grants for Centrally sponsored schemes and Rs. 220 crore for land acquisition under PMGSY.
Omar announced a separate hydraulic division for Bandipora and said that six irrigation canals at a cost of Rs. 37.80 crore have also been sanctioned for the district while as about Rs. 30 crore are being spent on two flood control schemes.
The Chief Minister directed the administration to work out a transfer policy for posting staff in Gurez in all the crucial sectors on the analogy of Ladakh. He also underscored the need for creating necessary accommodation for the employees in Gurez besides a mini-secretariat for all the offices to facilitate the administrative functioning.
Chairing the meeting of District Development Board, Ganderbal, Omar sanctioned Rs. 59.69 crore Annual Plan for the district which includes Rs. 7.23 crore additionalities. Like all other district plans the Ganderbal plan will also be subject to the increase on account of committed revenue expenditure.
Omar announced Rs. 1.4 crore for Behama-Safapora road, Rs. 3.59 crore for Gundrehman bridge, Rs. 34 lakh for water supply scheme, Rs. 40 lakh for Wakura block, Rs. 1 crore for Ganderbal Dak bungalow, Rs. 30 lakh for public conveniences and Rs. 20 lakh for construction of park.
The Chief Minister asked the District Development Commissioners of all the districts to finalize the reports about the liabilities work-wise and department-wise and submit the same to the Planning Department so that the clearance of liabilities is worked out accordingly.
Omar also underscored the need for the accommodation of district court and advocate chambers in Ganderbal besides working out strategy for overseeing the R&B works by the Executive Engineer, R&B in accordance with the requirement.
The meeting was among others attended by Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, Minister for Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, Minister for PHE, Irrigation& Flood Control, Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister for Education, Peerzada Mohammad Sayed, Minister for Health, Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Medical Education, R. S. Chib, Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for R&B, G. M. Saroori, Minister for CA&PD, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Minister for Higher Education, Abdul Gani Malik, Minister for Forest, Mian Altaf Ahmad, Minister for Social Welfare, Ms. Sakina Ittoo, Minister of State for Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Health, Javed Ahmad Dar, Advisor to Chief Minister, Mubarak Gul, Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Devender Singh Rana, Member Parliament, Sharief-ud-Din Sahriq, Legislators, Muzaffar Hussain Baig, Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Haji Mohammad Ashraf, Basharat Bukhari, Abdul Gani Vakil, Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, Nizam-ud-Din Bhat, Ali Mohammad Bhat, Chairmen Municipal Councils and Presidents of Municipal Committees of district Baramulla, Bandipora and Ganderbal, Chief Secretary, S. S. Kapur, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Principal Secretaries, Commissioner Secretaries, Divisional Commissioner and heads of the departments besides district officers.
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