The entire Jammu and Kashmir state which remained badly effected by the extreme militancy for last about 18 years is facing employment problem and the educated, trained and well qualified youth are facing the problems due to the absence of sufficient employment avenues and also the political set-up in the state never took required initiatives to ease the tension which troubles all the time young minds who are job less.
In this regard the Jammu and Kashmir State Governor, Mr N N Vohra, today (on September 23) announced a host of measures to mitigate the problems of people of the Gurez Sub Division and indicated a special recruitment drive by the Police after Eid. During his extensive tour of Gurez and interaction with the locals and the officers here this morning, the Governor directed that the winter stocking of rations and diesel for operating generators in the Sub Division, which remains land-locked for better part of the year, must be completed by October 5.
While reviewing the pace of progress on various developmental projects in a meeting with all the District and senior level officers, Mr Vohra sanctioned, on-the-spot, Rs 1 crore for the new Dak Bungalow; Rs 65 lakhs for construction of the Wanpora Bridge and an additionality of Rs 30 lakhs for the hospital complex, currently under execution.
The Governor asked the Engineers of the Power Development Department to sort-out the problems with regard to the early completion of the Hydel Project within a week. He announced release of Rs 70 lakhs for the procurement and stocking of diesel, as the area is entirely dependent on the electricity generated by generators. An amount of Rs 50 lakhs has already been earmarked for this purpose.
Mr Vohra asked the District Development Commissioner, Bandipora, to identify land for a Mini Sports Stadium and said that necessary funds would be released for this purpose. He said that the State Government will examine the issue relating to enhancement in the scholarships within two months.
Keeping in view the vast tourism potential of the area, the Governor observed that an amount of Rs 3 crore had already been sanctioned for the tourism infrastructure development and said that efforts would be made to keep the scenic Gurez Valley, known for its Habakhatoon Hill, open for tourist traffic. He said that the matter regarding keeping Gurez-Tilail Road open for longer duration would be taken up with the Project Beacon authorities.
Responding to the local problems, Mr Vohra said that a Gynecologist would be posted to the Sub-District Hospital within two weeks while arrangements for deputing a Surgeon will also be made. He also assured that the staff for the Tilail Block Office would be posted soon to make it fully functional.
He assured that the Government would consider setting up of an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) to open up new vistas of avenues in various trades, relevant to the job market, for the local youth. He reiterated that education, preferably professional, holds the key to ensuring larger empowerment of the people residing in remote and far-flung areas of the State. He said that the development related problems of the area would be reviewed separately at the apex level to ensure speedy and time-bound completion of various projects.
In his interaction with the locals, the Governor assured that the BSNL functionaries would be tasked to make the Telephone Exchange at Kanzalwan fully functional. He said that possibilities would be explored to extend the telephone facility to another five villages of the area.
On the general feed-back regarding heavy loss of Kharief Crop, Mr Vohra announced one month’s free ration for the drought-hit people of the area. He directed the District Administration to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the Crop loss He also asked the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir to sort-out all the compensation and rent-related issues of the area within a month, latest by end October.
The Governor visited the Sub-District Hospital and inspected the pace of work on the building complex. He also visited the local Higher Secondary School and interacted with the students. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh, out of his Discretionary Fund, for the Students Welfare related activities of the School. He exhorted the students to put in their best and strive for academic excellence to face the increasingly competitive environment with higher confidence.
He pinned many hopes with the younger generation of the far-off areas, saying they could immensely contribute in transforming the socio-economic scenario of their habitations.
Principal Secretary to Governor, Mr B B Vyas, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Mr Masud Samoon, and Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Dr Sriniwas, accompanied the Governor. Earlier, District Development Commissioner, Bandipora, Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmed, gave a brief resume of the developmental activities and various welfare programmes to the Governor. He said that 21,000 quintals of Rice and 15,000 quintals of Atta, besides adequate quantity of diesel, are being stocked in the area before October 5.